4. Discussion

In its January 28, 2002 response to the January 10 ALJ ruling, SCE provided the amounts and types of outstanding debt issued pursuant to the various decisions as requested. The amounts of financing authorization remaining under those respective decisions total $2,516,040,000, respectively as follows:

D.88-07-069² $485,440,000

D.98-02-104 $193,760,000

D.00-10-063 $1,586,840,000 (debt) and

$250,000,000 (Preferred Stock)

SCE states that it has a continuing need for Competitive Bidding Rule exemption for issues of large amounts of additional debt. SCE intends to use debt previously authorized to finance any past due obligations, refinance existing debt and fund its construction program. SCE believes its request, effectively seeking an exemption for domestic underwritten public offerings of fixed interest rate bonds and debentures exceeding $200 million in principal amount, is appropriate given the remaining financing authorization levels of D.88-07-069 and D.00-10-063. Since less than $200 million in financing authorization remains under D.98-02-104, SCE is withdrawing its request that the relevant language of that decision be modified to permit such exemptions to issue fixed interest rate bonds or debentures exceeding $200 million in principal amount. In addition, although previously included as part of SCE's petition, in light of D.02-01-061 which granted SCE's request for an exemption from the Competitive Bidding Rule requirements, SCE is not seeking separate or additional exemptions from the Competitive Bidding Rule for D.00-10-040 as subsequently modified by D.01-01-021 and D.02-01-061. Accordingly, SCE is seeking additional exemptions from the Competitive Bidding Rule only as to D.88-07-069 and D.00-10-063.

SCE believes that broadening the Decisions' present exemptions from the Competitive Bidding Rule requirements in this manner will give it the greater flexibility it originally sought in its Petition, which it continues to regard as necessary to access the capital markets. We agree. We have examined SCE's October 17, 2002 filing and believe that SCE has complied with the ALJ's ruling. The company provided a detailed update of the record and a primer on the Competitive Bidding process as it particularly affects SCE and other utilities in general.

In D.02-01-061, we agreed with SCE that it was unlikely that SCE would be able to obtain financing through competitive bids in the future. We do not see anything that changes that conclusion at this time. We will grant SCE's request for the exemption from the Competitive Bidding Rules. We note too, that SCE is not requesting authorization for additional debt authority in the Amended Expedition Petition, just an exemption from the Competitive Bidding Rules.