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Edison Rises After Executives Reassure Investors on Wildfires

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(Bloomberg) -- Edison International rose the most in more than a month after executives told investors that it thinks it acted prudently around the Los Angeles wildfires and that a state insurance fund would protect its finances.

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Shares climbed as much as 7.6% Friday, the most intraday since Jan. 15. The company faced its first death lawsuit related to the fires that week.

Edison Chief Executive Officer Pedro Pizarro said Thursday the transmission operations of its Southern California utility were managed responsibly even if investigators determine the equipment sparked a deadly fire near Los Angeles.

The company is confident Southern California Edison “would make a good faith showing that its conduct with respect to its transmission facilities in the Eaton Canyon area was consistent with actions of a reasonable utility,” Pizarro said during the company’s earnings call Thursday afternoon. Edison also said the state’s $21 billion fire insurance fund would be used to pay out claims if needed.

“Edison put a strong stamp of confidence in the existing constructs and stakeholder urgency to provide assurances,” Guggenheim analyst Shahriar Pourreza said in a research note Friday. “While the process is largely outside of management control, there is a message of adequate liquidity and financial strength that is a key differentiating factor versus history.”

Edison is facing mounting scrutiny for the possible role its equipment may have played in the Eaton wildfire. California’s utilities have started some of the state’s worst wildfires, pushing one of them — PG&E Corp. — to declare bankruptcy and leaving investors on edge. Edison has lost about a third of its market value since the Eaton Fire erupted Jan. 7, destroying more than 9,000 structures and cause damage estimated at $7 billion to $10 billion.

Under California reforms designed to improve utility wildfire safety practices, a utility can recover from customer damage claims related to a fire tied to its equipment if regulators determine that it acted prudently.

Pizarro said the size and scope of the Los Angeles wildfires have raised investor concerns about the durability of the state’s $21 billion wildfire insurance fund set up to cover claims from blazes started by utility equipment.