Description
Sempra Energy is a North American energy infrastructure company based in San Diego, California. Sempra Energy's focus is on electric and natural gas infrastructure. Its operating companies include: Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas) and San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) in Southern California; Oncor Electric Delivery Company (Oncor) in Texas; Sempra LNG; and IEnova, based in Mexico.
History
Sempra Energy was created through the 1998 merger of Los Angeles-based Pacific Enterprises, the parent company of SoCalGas, and Enova Corporation, the parent company of SDG&E.
In 1999, the company acquired two utilities in South America; Chilquinta Energia in Chile and Luz Del Sur in Peru, which gave Sempra Energy an entry into the expanding Latin American energy market.
In 2003, Sempra Energy Resources, the former power generation subsidiary of Sempra Energy, completed three state-of-the-art power plant projects in Arizona, California and New Mexico.
Sempra was sued over claims it manipulated natural gas supplies and electricity contracts during the 2001 California electricity crisis. In 2006, the company agreed to pay $377 million to settle gas supply claims, and in 2010, it paid another $410 million to settle claims on electricity price gouging, but has never admitted wrongdoing.
In 2007, Sempra created the Sempra Energy Foundation as a 501(c)(3) private foundation. The foundation matches employee's charitable contributions. In 2018, Sempra Energy Foundation matched $1.2 million. Sempra Energy reported giving $13.85 million in COVID-19 response across the Sempra Energy Foundation and operating companies.
On March 8, 2018, regulators in Texas approved Sempra Energy's purchase of a majority stake in Oncor for $9.45 billion.
On January 16, 2019, Sempra Energy was added to the Dow Jones Utility Average, replacing Pacific Gas and Electric.
Sempra Energy and Aramco signed a deal to supply LNG for Saudi Arabia in May 2019.
In April 2020, Sempra Energy announced it had completed the sale of its business in Peru, Luz del Sur, for $3.59 billion. In June 2020, Sempra Energy announced it completed the sell of its Chilean businesses to China’s State Grid International Development Ltd for $2.23 billion in cash. These two sales completed Sempra Energy's exit from South America.
