Jan 10 (Reuters) - Around 278,150 Californian homes and

businesses were without electricity on Friday morning in

Southern California Edison's service area, as multiple wildfires

continued to rage uncontrollably around Los Angeles.

A company spokesperson said around 149,000 of those homes

were without power due to the Public Safety Power Shutoff plan

and 129,000 were because of other causes such as wind damage.

The fires, which have devastated neighborhoods and already

rank as the most destructive in Los Angeles history, have so far

killed 10 people and destroyed nearly 10,000 structures.

"SCE estimates 1.29 million customers have seen an impact

since the storm started on Jan. 7," said Jeff Monford, senior

adviser of corporate communications at Edison, to Reuters.

Monford added SCE has thousands of field crew members

working towards restoring power.

SCE, a subsidiary of U.S. utility Edison International ( EIX )

, also added it could take them several days to restore

power.

Earlier in the day, SCE had received notices from insurance

companies to preserve evidence related to the Eaton Fire, but

said no fire agencies have pointed the utility's connection to

the fire.

The company said it had also not found any interruptions or

anomalies in its transmission lines until more than an hour

after the reported start time of the fire, citing preliminary

analysis done by the group.

Evercore ISI analyst Durgesh Chopra said on Friday a 10%

decline in Edison International's ( EIX ) stock on Wednesday had erased

about $3 billion in its equity value.

The decline, he said, was close to the company's maximum

exposure of $3.9 billion to AB 1054, also known as Wildfire

Insurance Fund, if deemed imprudent with its electric equipment

and facilities.

If the company is found imprudent or partially imprudent,

shareholders must pay up to 20% of the $3.9 billion for Edison

and the investigation can take one to two years, added Chopra.

Shares of the company were down over 7%.