Merger Would Increase Competition: Competition among electric...

Merger Would Increase Competition: Competition among electric utilities in the West would increase if San Diego Gas & Electric and Southern California Edison are merged into the nation’s largest gas and electric utility, the two utilities maintained in a filing with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. They said their proposed merger would give competitors increased access to the limited number of existing transmission lines in California and the West. Critics contend the merger would stifle competition, and that Edison for years has denied municipal utilities access to its transmission lines. But Edison claimed that the merger would create enough efficiencies to free up impressive amounts of space on the existing transmission system.