SAN DIEGO (CN) - Southern California Edison and the California Public Utilities Commission have unconstitutionally taken $3.7 billion from customers for the shuttered San Onofre nuclear power plant, ratepayers say in a federal class action.
San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, in northern San Diego County, was shut for good in the summer of 2013 after a failed $700 million attempt to replace steam generators. The plant is awaiting decommissioning.
Edison owns 78 percent of the plant; San Diego Gas & electric owns 20 percent of it.
Lead plaintiff Citizens Oversight claims that since January 2012, the Utilities Commission and Edison have forced Edison's and SDG&E's customers "to pay more than $700 million for the failed steam generator project and $3 billion or more for the failed power plant."
Citizens Oversight and eight named plaintiffs call this an unconstitutional taking of private property without just compensation. Their Nov. 13 lawsuit claims the unconstitutional taking began in January 2012, "the month the generators died and the plant stopped producing electricity."
The complaint cites a previous lawsuit , from July 2013, in which SDG&E blamed Mitsubishi for the failed steam generator installation. Citizens Oversight claims the defendants had good reason to believe that the installation would fail.
They seek a court order returning at least $3 billion to the shuttered plant's 17.4 million customers.
They are represented by Maria Severson, with Aguirre & Severson.
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