SCE Offers Programs for Customers With Special Needs.

ROSEMEAD, Calif. -- Southern California Edison (SCE) is reminding its customers with special needs to apply for two assistance programs the utility offers, Medical Baseline Allocation and the Friendly Reminder Notification.

"Medical Baseline Allocation is available to full-time residents for specific medical life-support equipment and specific illnesses or conditions," said Rose Pearson, manager of SCE's consumer affairs department. "To qualify, applicants must require electrically powered medical life support or mobility equipment. Customers who are paraplegic, hemiplegic, quadriplegic, or have multiple sclerosis or scleroderma may also qualify," Pearson added.

Medical Baseline Allocation gives customers additional electricity at the lower "baseline" rate. Certification by a doctor is required. SCE recommends that all customers who depend on electrically operated life support equipment for survival have a back-up power system or a plan to ensure health and safety during power outages.

SCE's Friendly Reminder Notification helps customers who may have trouble remembering to pay their electric bill. The Friendly Reminder Notification allows a third party -- a friend, relative, clergyman or public agency -- to receive a notice from SCE that a bill is past due. The third party is not responsible for paying the bill. "Both the customer and third party must sign an authorization to participate," Pearson noted.

For more information on Medical Baseline Allocation or the Friendly Reminder Notification, please call SCE at 800-655-4555 or visit www.sce.com.

An Edison International (NYSE:EIX) company, Southern California Edison is one of the nation's largest electric utilities, serving a population of more than 13 million via 4.6 million customer accounts in a 50,000-square-mile service area within central, coastal and Southern California.