Sempra

Sempra Energy’s two California utilities, Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas) and San Diego Gas and Electric Co. (SDG&E), were ranked highest for customer satisfaction among the largest U.S. investor-owned energy utilities (IOU) in the first quarter of this year, according to a recently completed survey by the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). The utilities announced their top ranking in the University of Michigan survey that measures customer satisfaction across 10 economic sectors, 44 industries and more than 200 companies, along with federal and local government agencies. SoCalGas and SDG&E scored the highest in residential customer satisfaction of the 29 largest IOUs. The ACSI survey used a uniform system to measure customer satisfaction, quality of service, value, reliability and the ability to restore power after outages.

Sempra Energy’s Los Angeles-based Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas) utility announced Tuesday it is holding more than $20 million for rebates and incentives to business customers for qualifying energy efficiency projects in 2009. It is the largest pool of incentive money in the utility’s history.

Source: Quarterly financial reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or if necessary, statements signed by company officials and provided to NGI.

More than 76 Bcf of natural gas, or 240,000 MMBtu/d, was sold to four companies — Constellation Energy Commodities Group Inc., Oneok Energy Services Co., Sempra Energy Trading and Shell Energy North America — in a federal Royalty in Kind (RIK) onshore gas sale conducted in early October by the Department of the Interior’s Minerals Management Service (MMS). Eleven companies submitted 75 bids for RIK gas located on federal lands in the Jonah-Pinedale area in western Wyoming. The gas was sold under five- or 12-month contracts, with delivery scheduled to begin on Nov.1. If current natural gas prices in the area were to remain at $5/MMBtu, the sale would equate to more than $384 million in total gross revenues, MMS stated. Wyoming will receive nearly 50% of the revenues generated by the sale of gas from federal lands in the state.

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) on Thursday approved a joint natural gas hedging plan for winter supply purchases by Sempra Energy’s two utilities. It is similar to plans the CPUC approved for Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas) the past three winters.

Joining its sister Sempra Energy utility in San Diego, Los Angeles-based Southern California Gas Co.(SoCalGas) reached out to the low-income segment of its nearly 6 million-meter customer base Wednesday to urge customers who qualify to apply for a 20% discount on future monthly retail utility bills.

Sempra Energy’s Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas) unit intends to employ its new 45.5-mile pipeline in the high desert northeast of the Los Angeles Basin to meet the growing energy demand from the expanding town of Twenty-Nine Palms, CA, and its nearby U.S. Marine Training Base. SoCalGas will not integrate the pipeline into its larger backbone transmission pipeline system, a spokesperson told NGI.

Sempra Energy’s Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas) unit intends to employ its new 45.5-mile pipeline in the high desert northeast of the Los Angeles Basin to meet the growing energy demand from the expanding town of Twenty-Nine Palms, CA, and its nearby U.S. Marine Training Base. SoCalGas will not integrate the pipeline into its larger backbone transmission pipeline system, a spokesperson told NGI.

Calling it a “positive milestone” in what is now a three-year permitting process, Sempra Energy’s San Diego Gas and Electric Co. (SDG&E) early in the new year reacted upbeat and confident that its proposed 150-mile, $1.3 billion high-voltage transmission project, Sunrise Powerlink, ultimately will be built. The utility insists it is the most “cost-effective and reliable” means of tapping large new renewable-produced electricity from neighboring Imperial County.