Southern California Gas Co

The California Public Utilities Commission on Wednesday approved a settlement that will give Southern California Gas Co. customers a small but long-term rate reduction, beginning next month. What has become known as the Global Settlement resolves a host of long-running gas pricing disputes between the utility, its suppliers and consumer advocates. The relief for customers--from residents to big industrial users--will be lower rates over the next 19 years, beginning with a modest drop Aug. 1.

Wes Rogers used a garden hose to fight flames from the 2008 Sesnon fire that had reached the fence of his home in the northwest San Fernando Valley. The memory of the blaze, caused by a downed Southern California Gas Co. electrical distribution wire, is raw. And that has made the utility's plan to revamp its natural gas storage facility in Aliso Canyon a tough sell to residents wary of another fire in the same bushy hills north of Porter Ranch. According to the state Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, power lines were suspected in or blamed for four of the 20 largest wildfires in California history, including the Sesnon blaze, which blackened 14,703 acres, destroyed 15 homes and dozens of outbuildings, and remains the suspected cause of a fatal car crash on the 118 Freeway.

PUC Orders Rate Reduction: The California Public Utilities Commission ordered Southern California Gas Co. to reduce its residential energy rates by $3.7 million. The effect on bills to the company's 4.4 million residential customers will be minimal. SoCal Gas must also reduce its revenue by $2.3 million for failing to buy inexpensive gas late last year when it was available. The company said it may appeal the PUC decision.

Everyone knows solar power can heat homes and generate electricity. But on a rooftop in Downey, Southern California Gas Co. engineers are using solar mirrors to cool down their offices. Engineers are testing two technologies that use mirrors to concentrate sunlight onto pipes with water running through them. The heated water powers a thermal process in a chiller that cools the cold water used in air conditioning units. "When we tell people we heat water up only to cool it down, they don't get it at first," said David Berokoff, a technology development manager at SoCal Gas. "But all this technology has been around for a while.

Southern California Gas Cutting Rates: The utility said it is cutting its annual rates by $280 million beginning this month for its residential and core commercial and industrial customers of 3.7 cents per therm, effective Sept. 22. For residential customers who use the systemwide average of 50 therms a month, the reduction will amount to $1.85 a month, Southern California Gas Co. said.

Everyone knows solar power can heat homes and generate electricity. But on a rooftop in Downey, Southern California Gas Co. engineers are using solar mirrors to cool down their offices. Engineers are testing two technologies that use mirrors to concentrate sunlight onto pipes with water running through them. The heated water powers a thermal process in a chiller that cools the cold water used in air conditioning units. "When we tell people we heat water up only to cool it down, they don't get it at first," said David Berokoff, a technology development manager at SoCal Gas. "But all this technology has been around for a while.

A promising alternative energy source leaves the test workbench today as Southern California Gas Co. shows off the nation's first commercially operating fuel cell and a business-government coalition calls for a $1-billion effort to adapt the technology for use in autos, buses and trains. Proponents of fuel cells, which operate like big batteries, say the technology could eventually be used for everything from the family car--and house--to electrical power plants for entire cities.

After spending months slimming down its far-flung, diversified operations and pumping life into its ailing retail unit, Los Angeles conglomerate Pacific Enterprises ran into a major challenge close to home. A fiery natural gas explosion tore the roof from a Lakewood home in September, sending a mother and her two children to a hospital burn center in critical condition.

Southern California Gas Co. has reached a tentative contract accord with union negotiators, averting a strike by most of its 7,600 employees. SoCal Gas, the nation's largest natural gas distribution utility, and Local 132 of the Utility Workers Union of America agreed on a new three-year labor contract near midnight Saturday, said officials from both sides of the negotiations.

Southern California Gas Co. and the union representing its workers are running out of negotiating time on a labor contract that expires this weekend. A strike could begin as early as midnight Saturday against the company that serves more than 20.3 million consumers in Southern California. On Sunday, Local 132 of the Utility Workers Union of America, AFL-CIO, asked its members for an authorization vote that would give the union the right to call a walkout if negotiations fail.

The gig: President and chief executive of Southern California Gas Co. and San Diego Gas & Electric Co., regulated utilities owned by San Diego-based Sempra Energy. SoCalGas is the nation's largest gas distribution utility, with 5.6 million business and residential meters. SDG&E supplies electricity to 3.4 million homes and businesses and is the natural gas provider for 825,000 customers in San Diego and southern Orange County. Background: Born in Long Beach.

Sempra Energy's first-quarter profit increased 6.1%, boosted by higher earnings at the San Diego company's natural gas utilities. Net income climbed to $242 million, or 92 cents a share, from $228 million, or 86 cents, a year earlier, Sempra said Friday. Sempra was expected to earn 84 cents a share, according to a Bloomberg survey. Revenue rose 8.9% to $3.27 billion. Southern California Gas Co. and San Diego Gas & Electric Co., which are owned by Sempra, had combined quarterly profit of $131 million, up 12% from a year earlier.

SACRAMENTO -- Phone and energy companies and officials with business before the California Public Utilities Commission and its chairman, Michael Peevey, are helping underwrite the state Senate campaign of Peevey's wife, Carol Liu. Industries regulated by the commission have given $88,783 to assist Liu's 2008 bid to represent a district stretching from the San Gabriel to the San Fernando valleys.

The consumer arm of the state Public Utilities Commission recommended Thursday that Southern California Gas Co. customers get a $68-million rate reduction starting in 2008 instead of the $140-million increase sought by the utility. In particular, the commission's Division of Ratepayer Advocates objected to incentive bonus and compensation programs that were included in the gas company's rate proposal.

Southern California Gas Co. is investigating whether Gerald Barnes, the man arrested in Los Angeles by the FBI earlier this month on suspicion of masquerading as a physician, conducted drug test reviews on its employees, 15 of whom were fired for positive results, a spokeswoman said Thursday.

Southern California Gas Co. and San Diego Gas & Electric Co. have $5 million apiece burning a hole in their pockets that they want to lend, at no cost, to small businesses to buy energy-efficient equipment.

A Bay Area environmental group filed a lawsuit Thursday alleging that Southern California Gas Co. operations near Marina del Rey are polluting a local water table. The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, charges that the utility is in violation of Proposition 65, which prohibits discharge or release of chemicals known to cause cancer or birth defects.