The Wildfire Recovery Compensation Program launching in the fall will "provide direct payments and fast resolutions to eligible individuals and businesses," according to the utility company.
Claims would cover total and partial structure loss, commercial property loss, business interruption, smoke and ash, physical injury and deaths, the utility said in a news release.
Edison has stopped short of accepting blame for the fire, acknowledging that the official investigation into the cause of the Eaton Fire is ongoing. The utility said the program is not an admission of legal liability.
In the wake of the Jan. 7 fire, dozens of lawsuits have been filed against Edison. Videos appear to capture the wildfire igniting under a transmission line in Eaton Canyon.
The move by Edison seeks to avoid lengthy litigation.
"Community members shouldn't have to wait for the final conclusions in the Eaton Fire investigation to get the financial support they need to begin rebuilding," Pedro J. Pizarro, president and CEO of Edison International, the parent company of Southern California Edison, said in a statement.
"Even though the details of how the Eaton Fire started are still being evaluated, SCE will offer an expedited process to pay and resolve claims fairly and promptly," the statement added. "This allows the community to focus more on recovery instead of lengthy, expensive litigation."
Derek Russell Jr., who lost everything in the blaze, said he feels the utility company may try to shortchange victims.
"Are they taking into consideration the trauma, the emotional stress, everything that came along with the fire besides losing your home and everything that you had?" he told Eyewitness News.
Douglas Boxer, a lawyer representing victims suing Edison, said he dealt with similar a compensation program set up for victims of the 2021 Dixie Fire in Northern California.
"If this program is anything like that program, we know that it's going to take a lot longer than the utilities says it will," he said. "The payments won't be as much as people think, and it will not be relatively simple to participate in."
Exact details of the program are still being worked out.
Participation in the program will be voluntary, with no application fees, administrative costs or legal fees charged by Edison to participate, the utility said.
Victims say all they want is justice.
"We want what's owed to us," Russell Jr. said. "Not what they think we should get, but what we're worth, what our lives were worth because we lost everything."
A spokesperson for the utility said if the company is found responsible for the fire, California has a $21 billion wildfire fund that Edison would have access to in order to help reimburse the company for payments it makes to local fire victims.
A total of 19 people died in the Eaton Fire and more than 9,400 structures were destroyed.
City News Service contributed to this report.