5. Building Signage

Edison requests that the Commission exempt it from Rule V.F.1's disclaimer requirement when the affiliate uses the utility's name or logo on a building sign. Edison states that Edison Mission Energy, Edison Capital, and the Edison Enterprises have occupied separate buildings from the utility for years. According to Edison, requiring a disclaimer the size required by Rule V.F.1 to accompany the building sign would be extremely unwieldy and in some instances impossible. Edison also believes building signs should be exempt from the Affiliate Transaction Rules because their primary purpose is identification, not marketing. According to Edison, the alternative, which would be to require the affiliate to remove its name from the building, would impair Edison's contract and First Amendment free speech rights.

ORA and TURN ask for more clarification on the extent of the exemption sought by Edison. Edison provided further clarification in its reply.

We grant Edison, and all other utilities subject to the Affiliate Transaction Rules, a narrow exemption from Rule V.F.1 with respect to the types of building signs set forth below. We do so provided that the types of signs set forth below are used as identification, and not to expressly market a product or service or the company. For example, such signs should not include telephone numbers, promotional banners, or other product advertisements. We recognize that even if the primary purpose of a sign is for identification, it may also have a secondary marketing purpose or effect. We also recognize that the application of this rule is not limited only to instances where the affiliate is marketing a product, but is more broadly designed to help prevent customer confusion by reinforcing the separation of the affiliate and the utility in the mind of the consumer. However, we grant this narrow exception to Rule V.F.1 because it is important to identify where, for example, the affiliate's offices are located in a building, and because posting the disclaimer on the top of a building with a large sign may be unwieldy or impossible. Therefore, we determine that this exemption may apply to the following types of building signs, provided they are used as identification and not expressly to market the product or service or the company.

a. Outdoor signs located on a building in which the affiliate is located.

b. "Monument signs" outside buildings in which the affiliate is located. These signs are usually freestanding signs jutting up from lawns or concrete walkways.


c. Building entrance signs in a building in which the affiliate is located, or in an adjacent or nearby parking structure serving the affiliate's offices. These signs include those placed on buildings and adjacent to entry doors as well as signs placed directly on such doors (e.g., the company's name applied by paint, decal, adhesive placard, or through etched glass.) The intent of these signs is to indicate the correct entrance to use for a particular facility.


d. Lobby signs located in a building which is occupied by the affiliate.

e. Reception area signs in the affiliate's business offices, which offices do not also operate as retail stores or other similar types of areas open to the general public. These types of signs include signs at suite door entrances, directional signs, reception desk name plates, etc.