LOS ANGELES (AP) — A state advocate on Friday recommended that two Southern California power companies return at least $648 million to their customers because of evidence of "inappropriate conversations" involving the state's top utility regulator in a deal that divided nearly $5 billion in costs from the demise of the San Onofre nuclear power plant. The Office of Ratepayer Advocates, an arm of the California Public Utilities Commission, said in a statement that private conservations between the commission's then-President Michael Peevey and a Southern California Edison executive gave the utility an unfair advantage.