Sempra Energy Announces California Utilities' Settlement Agreement For Two-Year Extension Of Cost-Of-Capital Application

SAN DIEGO, Feb. 7, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Sempra Energy (NYSE: SRE) today announced that its California utilities – San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) and Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas) – have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with other parties for a two-year extension for the utilities to file their next applications in the Cost-of-Capital proceeding at the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC).

The MOU was entered into today by SDG&E, SoCalGas, Pacific Gas & Electric and Southern California Edison with the CPUC's Office of Ratepayer Advocates and The Utility Reform Network for the Cost-of-Capital application extension through 2018 and 2019.

The MOU calls for SDG&E to reduce its return on equity to 10.2 percent from 10.3 percent and SoCalGas to reduce its return on equity to 10.05 percent from 10.1 percent for 2018 and 2019. While the return on equity for both SDG&E and SoCalGas is fixed for 2018, the return on equity for 2019 is subject to a Cost-of-Capital adjustment mechanism. If approved, the terms of the MOU will not take effect until Jan. 1, 2018. These MOU terms are materially consistent with the Cost-of-Capital assumptions provided for SDG&E and SoCalGas in the five-year financial plan at Sempra Energy's 2016 Analyst Conference.

SDG&E, SoCalGas and the other parties to the MOU have filed a Joint Petition for Modification with the CPUC. The petition is subject to final approval by the CPUC.

The Cost-of-Capital proceeding determines utility rates of return on their investments.

Sempra Energy (NYSE: SRE), based in San Diego, is a Fortune 500 energy services holding company with 2015 revenues of more than $10 billion. The Sempra Energy companies' 17,000 employees serve more than 32 million consumers worldwide.

This press release contains statements that are not historical fact and constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.  These statements can be identified by words like "believes," "expects," "anticipates," "plans," "estimates,"  "projects," "forecasts," "contemplates," "intends," "assumes," "depends," "should," "could," "would," "will," "confident," "may," "potential," "possible,"  "proposed,"  "target," "pursue," "goals," "outlook," "maintain," or similar expressions or discussions of guidance, strategies, plans, goals, opportunities, projections, initiatives, objectives or intentions.  Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of performance.  They involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions.  Future results may differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements. 

Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon various assumptions involving judgments with respect to the future and other risks, including, among others:  local, regional, national and international economic, competitive, political, legislative, legal and regulatory conditions, decisions and developments; actions and the timing of actions, including general rate case decisions, new regulations, issuances of permits to construct, operate and maintain facilities and equipment and to use land, franchise agreements and licenses for operation, by the California Public Utilities Commission, California State Legislature, U.S. Department of Energy, California Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, California Energy Commission, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, California Air Resources Board, South Coast Air Quality Management District, Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, Mexican Competition Commission, states, cities and counties, and other regulatory and governmental bodies in the countries in which we operate; the timing and success of business development efforts and construction, maintenance and capital projects, including risks in obtaining, maintaining or extending permits, licenses, certificates and other authorizations on a timely basis, risks in obtaining the consent of our partners, and risks in obtaining adequate and competitive financing for such projects; the resolution of civil and criminal litigation and regulatory investigations; deviations from regulatory precedent or practice that result in a reallocation of benefits or burdens among shareholders and ratepayers, and delays in, or disallowance or denial of, regulatory agency authorization to recover costs in rates from customers or regulatory agency approval for projects required to enhance safety and reliability; the availability of electric power, natural gas and liquefied natural gas, and natural gas pipeline and storage capacity, including disruptions caused by failures in the North American transmission grid, moratoriums on the ability to withdraw natural gas from or inject natural gas into storage facilities, pipeline explosions and equipment failures; energy markets; the timing and extent of changes and volatility in commodity prices; moves to reduce or eliminate reliance on natural gas as an energy source; the impact on the value of our natural gas storage and related assets and our investments from low natural gas prices, low volatility of natural gas prices and the inability to procure favorable long-term contracts for natural gas storage services; risks posed by decisions and actions of third parties who control the operations of investments in which we do not have a controlling interest, and risks that our partners or counterparties will be unable (due to liquidity issues, bankruptcy or otherwise) or unwilling to fulfill their contractual commitments; weather conditions, natural disasters, catastrophic accidents, equipment failures, terrorist attacks and other events that may disrupt our operations, damage our facilities and systems, cause the release of greenhouse gasses, radioactive materials and harmful emissions, and subject us to third-party liability for property damage or personal injuries, fines and penalties, some of which may not be covered by insurance (including costs in excess of applicable policy limits) or may be disputed by insurers; cybersecurity threats to the energy grid, natural gas storage and pipeline infrastructure, the information and systems used to operate our businesses and the confidentiality of our proprietary information and the personal information of our customers and employees; the ability to win competitively bid infrastructure projects against a number of strong competitors willing to aggressively bid for these projects; capital markets conditions, including the availability of credit and liquidity of our investments, and inflation, interest and currency exchange rates; disallowance of regulatory assets associated with, or decommissioning costs of, the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station facility due to increased regulatory oversight, including motions to modify settlements; expropriation of assets by foreign governments and title and other property disputes; the impact on reliability of San Diego Gas & Electric Company's (SDG&E) electric transmission and distribution system due to increased amount and variability of power supply from renewable energy sources and increased reliance on natural gas and natural gas transmission systems; the impact on competitive customer rates due to the growth in distributed and local power generation and the corresponding decrease in demand for power delivered through SDG&E's electric transmission and distribution system; the impact on customer rates and other adverse consequences due to possible departing retail load resulting from customers transferring to Direct Access and Community Choice Aggregation; the inability or determination not to enter into long-term supply and sales agreements or long-term firm capacity agreements due to insufficient market interest, unattractive pricing or other factors; and other uncertainties, all of which are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond our control.

These risks and uncertainties are further discussed in the reports that Sempra Energy has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These reports are available through the EDGAR system free-of-charge on the SEC's website, www.sec.gov, and on the company's website at www.sempra.com. Investors should not rely unduly on any forward-looking statements.  These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof, and the company undertakes no obligation to update or revise these forecasts or projections or other forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

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SOURCE Sempra Energy