Southern California Edison, hoping to limit the damage from a seven-year fraud that could cost the utility $237 million, told state regulators Wednesday that the rigged customer satisfaction surveys and falsified safety data at the heart of the case did little harm and were not widespread, the Los Angeles Times rerpots.

For those reasons, Edison said it should pay $51.9 million in fines and refunded performance bonuses instead of the higher price tag imposed recently by a judge at the California Public Utilities Commission.

The company, a subsidiary of Rosemead-based Edison International, accused the PUC judge of being biased. Utility Chief Executive Al Fohrer angrily told regulators that the $237-million price tag “goes way beyond reason.”

Edison’s arguments were countered Wednesday by two consumer groups, the PUC’s internal consumer advocacy division and commission staff members in charge of the Edison investigation. Each urged the PUC to substantially increase the penalties against Edison, contending that the fraud was pervasive and that the judge was too lenient.

“Adopting Edison’s position would deny justice to its defrauded ratepayers and other members of the public and to this commission, whose trust Edison has abused,” said Richard Clark, director of the PUC’s consumer protection and safety division, the group that investigated the fraud.

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