Since we electrified California, energy has been provided to customers in roughly the same way: it came from a centralized source, such as Southern California Edison's Big Creek Hydroelectric Plant, which has been providing renewable energy to the Southland since 1913. Then this energy has been transmitted, virtually instantaneously, through the utility's transmission wires to distribution substations where it has been stepped down to lower voltages and transmitted through distribution wires to customers’ homes and businesses.

But the utility is in the middle of a revolution to change the way it generates and uses electricity. Today:

• SCE is decarbonizing the grid by turning to renewable sources of energy in order to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change.
• Customers can generate solar energy to power their homes and businesses, charge electric vehicles, and store excess energy in batteries. They can also sell that energy back to the grid.
• Artificial intelligence and machine learning are allowing the utility to automate control and communication systems to provide almost instantaneous communication about grid conditions, such as outages, and to allow third parties, such as customers and developers, to sell energy back onto the grid.