Deregulation of California's electricity market in the late 1990s forced the company to sell many of its power plants, though some were probably sold by choice.

[citation needed] SCE retained its hydroelectric plants, totaling about 1,200 MW, and its 75% share of the 2,150-MW San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station.

The origins of the company lie with the grand scheme of business magnate Henry E. Huntington and hydraulic engineer John S. Eastwood, developed around 1908, for a vast complex of reservoirs to be constructed in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of central California.

Huntington founded Pacific Light and Power, one of the roughly two dozen companies he controlled at the time,[7] to execute what would eventually become one of the largest hydropower systems in the United States, the Big Creek Hydroelectric Project.

[10] In 2006, Southern California Edison planned to secure 1,500 megawatts or more of power generated from new projects to be built in the Tehachapi Pass Wind Farm area.

The photovoltaic cells will cover 65,000,000 square feet (6,000,000 m2) of rooftops in southern California and will generate enough power to serve 162,000 homes.

[13] Southern California Edison also entered into a contract with Stirling Energy Systems to buy electricity from a 500 megawatt, 4,600 acre (19 km2), solar power plant which was due to open in 2009.

[22] As of July 2018, Southern California Edison planned to add thousands of new charging stations for passenger electric vehicles (EV).

[citation needed] Dr. John Jurewitz served as Director of Regulatory Policy for Southern California Edison for 15 years until his retirement in July 2007.

He has testified and participated in government-sponsored proceedings addressing electric industry restructuring and energy policy at the state, federal, and international levels.

[29] Meanwhile, the utility company hired immigrants from India through Infosys, based in Bangalore, and Tata Consultancy Services in Mumbai, which are among the largest users of H-1B visas.