San Diego Gas Electric Co

State Sen. Herschel Rosenthal and other critics on Friday denounced as "a sham and a fraud" an agreement between Southern California Edison Co. and air quality officials on ways to reduce pollution resulting from Edison's proposed merger with San Diego Gas & Electric Co.

Faced with growing public outrage over soaring utility bills in San Diego and southern Orange County, state legislators Thursday agreed to hold a hearing on whether to amend, delay or even repeal the utility deregulation bill blamed for the increases. State Senate President Pro Tem John Burton (D-San Francisco) and state Sen. Steve Peace (D-San Diego), author of the deregulation bill, agreed to a hearing after receiving an urgent plea from former San Diego Mayor Maureen O'Connor.

Six of California's largest utilities entered into an agreement Friday setting a goal to give 20% of the dollar value of all contracts they award to minority-or women-owned firms within five years. The agreement, to be administered by the state Public Utilities Commission, was worked out by Assemblywoman Gwen Moore (D-Los Angeles), chairwoman of the Assembly Utilities and Commerce Committee.

Representatives of 12 San Diego County municipalities and county government gathered here Wednesday to plot strategy in a first--and largely symbolic--show of unified concern about the planned merger of San Diego Gas & Electric Co. and Southern California Edison Co. The closed-door session in Mayor Maureen O'Connor's office was devoted to a review of the cities' options and produced no agreements.

In an emotional congressional hearing at what some called "ground zero of the energy crisis," San Diego politicians and business leaders Thursday pleaded for help for the region that was the first to experience skyrocketing utility prices under deregulation. Rep.

As electricity rate hikes loom for millions of California consumers, Gov. Gray Davis and the state's three major utility companies are waging an intense war to insulate themselves from a consumer backlash. Casting themselves as victims in a deregulation experiment gone sour, utility officials have pleaded their case on TV, in newspapers and in secret talks with decision-makers, threatening financial doom if they don't get rate increases.

San Diego Gas & Electric directors on Wednesday approved a $2.4-billion merger with Southern California Edison, the first step toward creating the nation's largest investor-owned electric company. The merger, which must be approved by shareholders of both companies and state and federal regulators, would create a massive utility with 4.8 million customers and $8.2 billion in annual revenues.

San Diego Gas & Electric reached an agreement with Gov. Gray Davis on Monday to sell its 1,800 miles of transmission lines for $1 billion, a move that could put the state closer to its goal of creating a statewide power grid. But like a deal reached April 9 to buy Southern California Edison's larger network for $2.8 billion, the SDG&E deal must overcome considerable legislative and financial hurdles.

California regulators look set to require that the state's three investor-owned utilities continue to buy all their power through the California Power Exchange, or CalPX. The ruling could be made at a California Public Utilities Commission meeting Thursday, although sources close to the PUC suggested that controversy about a separate but related matter could delay a decision.

Adding significantly to the financial and political risks facing California's three big utilities, the state Public Utilities Commission said Monday that it is considering whether the companies have violated the rules allowing them to diversify into unregulated businesses. Starting in the mid-1980s, the PUC authorized the creation of holding companies, in which the utilities were relegated to the status of subsidiaries.