The Southern California Gas Company (trading as SoCalGas) is a utility company based in
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
, and a subsidiary of
Sempra. It is the primary provider of
natural gas
Natural gas (also fossil gas, methane gas, and gas) is a naturally occurring compound of gaseous hydrocarbons, primarily methane (95%), small amounts of higher alkanes, and traces of carbon dioxide and nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide and helium ...
to Los Angeles and
Southern California
Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...
.
Overview
Its headquarters are located in
Gas Company Tower in
downtown Los Angeles
Downtown Los Angeles (DTLA) is the central business district of the city of Los Angeles. It is part of the Central Los Angeles region and covers a area. As of 2020, it contains over 500,000 jobs and has a population of roughly 85,000 residents ...
.
SoCalGas provides natural gas service for approximately 21.6 million customers, spanning roughly 20,000 square miles of California, extending from
Visalia in the north to the Mexican border in the south. Gas service for
San Diego County
San Diego County (), officially the County of San Diego, is a county in the southwest corner of the U.S. state of California, north to its border with Mexico. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,298,634; it is the second-most populous ...
is provided by sister utility
San Diego Gas & Electric, and
Southwest Gas and the
Long Beach Gas & Oil Department (LBGO) carve out small portions of the Southern California area for natural gas delivery.
The company provides gas service for all or part of the following
counties
A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...
:
*
Fresno
Fresno (; ) is a city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County, California, Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley (California), Central Valley region. It covers a ...
*
Imperial
*
Kern
*
Kings
*
Los Angeles
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
*
Orange
*
Riverside
*
San Bernardino
San Bernardino ( ) is a city in and the county seat of San Bernardino County, California, United States. Located in the Inland Empire region of Southern California, the city had a population of 222,101 in the 2020 census, making it the List of ...
*
San Luis Obispo
; ; ; Chumashan languages, Chumash: ''tiłhini'') is a city and county seat of San Luis Obispo County, California, United States. Located on the Central Coast (California), Central Coast of California, San Luis Obispo is roughly halfway betwee ...
*
Santa Barbara
*
Tulare
*
Ventura
History

This gas company's roots trace back to the 1800s when new settlers arrived in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
in search of a new frontier. In 1867, Los Angeles Gas Company, the forerunner of today's Southern California Gas Company, installed 43 new gas lamps along Main Street. The gas lighting business was run by five entrepreneurs who manufactured the gas from
asphalt
Asphalt most often refers to:
* Bitumen, also known as "liquid asphalt cement" or simply "asphalt", a viscous form of petroleum mainly used as a binder in asphalt concrete
* Asphalt concrete, a mixture of bitumen with coarse and fine aggregates, u ...
, a
tar
Tar is a dark brown or black viscous liquid of hydrocarbons and free carbon, obtained from a wide variety of organic materials through destructive distillation. Tar can be produced from coal, wood, petroleum, or peat. "a dark brown or black b ...
-like substance, and later from
oil
An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) and lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturate ...
.
The company was enjoying modest success until
Thomas Edison
Thomas Alva Edison (February11, 1847October18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These inventions, ...
introduced his
electric light
Electric light is an artificial light source powered by electricity.
Electric Light may also refer to:
* Light fixture, a decorative enclosure for an electric light source
* Electric Light (album), ''Electric Light'' (album), a 2018 album by James ...
in 1879. With the future of the gas lamp business uncertain, the company began looking for other uses for gas, and Los Angeles soon had its first gas stove and heater. Meanwhile, Pacific Enterprises was looking to expand its gas business. Founded in
San Francisco
San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
in 1886 as Pacific Lighting, the company bought several small gas manufacturing and distribution companies in the area, including the Los Angeles Gas Company in 1890. These companies ultimately became Southern California Gas Company.
By the early 20th century,
natural gas
Natural gas (also fossil gas, methane gas, and gas) is a naturally occurring compound of gaseous hydrocarbons, primarily methane (95%), small amounts of higher alkanes, and traces of carbon dioxide and nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide and helium ...
—a colorless, odorless gas found in association with oil underground—was starting to gain attention. The breakthrough came with the discovery of the
Buena Vista Oil Field near
Taft, California
Taft (formerly Moron, Moro, and Siding Number Two) is a city in the foothills at the extreme southwestern edge of the San Joaquin Valley, in Kern County, California. Taft is located west-southwest of Bakersfield, California, Bakersfield, at an ...
in 1909, which included a huge reservoir of natural gas. Since natural gas had twice the heating value of manufactured gas, the company took the bold step to convert its system to natural gas and build pipelines throughout the state. Natural gas was soon found throughout the country, and demand for the fuel was rapidly growing. To meet customer demand, the company began storing gas in large holding tanks. In 1941, the company introduced a new system to the
Southwest United States: underground storage of natural gas. By 2016, the company had four separate underground storage facilities, all of them depleted oil and gas fields repurposed as gas storage. The four are, in order from largest to smallest, the
Aliso Canyon field, north of
Porter Ranch;
Honor Rancho, near
Newhall; the
La Goleta Gas Field adjacent to
Goleta; and the Playa del Rey storage facility, north of
Playa del Rey, near the Los Angeles International Airport.
As Southern California's population grew, so too, did the company, eventually becoming the nation's largest natural gas distribution utility, serving 19.5 million people through 5.5 million gas meters in more than 530 communities. Headquartered in Los Angeles, Southern California Gas Company is a subsidiary of
Sempra, a
Fortune 500
The ''Fortune'' 500 is an annual list compiled and published by ''Fortune (magazine), Fortune'' magazine that ranks 500 of the largest United States Joint-stock company#Closely held corporations and publicly traded corporations, corporations by ...
company based in
San Diego
San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...
. Its service area encompasses 23,000 sq mi (60,000 km
2) of diverse terrain throughout most of Central and Southern California, from just south of
Sanger to the
Mexican border.
In late 2012, the company began the Advanced Meter Installation (AMI) Project that consists of upgrading over 6 million gas meters with the new Advanced Meter communication device. This device is attached to an analog gas meter that automatically and securely transfers gas usage information to the company's customer service and billing centers. The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has approved a budget of $1.05 billion for this project, which is expected to be completed in 2017.
On March 6, 2019, SoCalGas announced a plan to replace 20 percent of its traditional natural gas supply with
renewable natural gas (RNG) by 2030. SoCalGas aims to be the cleanest natural gas utility in North America, which it plans to achieve by delivering increasingly renewable energy to its customers. As part of this effort, SoCalGas has partnered with startup
Twelve to convert CO
2 from raw
biogas
Biogas is a gaseous renewable energy source produced from raw materials such as agricultural waste, manure, municipal waste, plant material, sewage, green waste, Wastewater treatment, wastewater, and food waste. Biogas is produced by anaerobic ...
into
methane
Methane ( , ) is a chemical compound with the chemical formula (one carbon atom bonded to four hydrogen atoms). It is a group-14 hydride, the simplest alkane, and the main constituent of natural gas. The abundance of methane on Earth makes ...
.
Environmental impact
A
gas leak from the underground Aliso Canyon gas storage started in October 2015 releasing
methane
Methane ( , ) is a chemical compound with the chemical formula (one carbon atom bonded to four hydrogen atoms). It is a group-14 hydride, the simplest alkane, and the main constituent of natural gas. The abundance of methane on Earth makes ...
uncontrollably. By December 2015, thousands of people from Porter Ranch had been temporarily relocated and the leak had added more than 150 million pounds of methane to the atmosphere.
The NGO
Environmental Defense Fund
Environmental Defense Fund or EDF (formerly known as Environmental Defense) is a United States–based nonprofit environmental advocacy group. The group is known for its work on issues including global warming, ecosystem restoration, oceans, an ...
has called the incident "unprecedented for California" and compared the leak's continuous output of
greenhouse gas emissions
Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from human activities intensify the greenhouse effect. This contributes to climate change. Carbon dioxide (), from burning fossil fuels such as coal, petroleum, oil, and natural gas, is the main cause of climate chan ...
to that of 7 million cars or "8 or 9 coal-fired plants". The 20-year climate impact of this leak is estimated to be the same as burning a billion gallons of gasoline. The incident has been called "the biggest
environmental disaster since the
Deepwater Horizon oil spill
The ''Deepwater Horizon'' oil spill was an environmental disaster off the coast of the United States in the Gulf of Mexico, on the BP-operated Macondo Prospect. It is considered the largest marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum in ...
" by journalists.
The company has advocated for mixing
biogas
Biogas is a gaseous renewable energy source produced from raw materials such as agricultural waste, manure, municipal waste, plant material, sewage, green waste, Wastewater treatment, wastewater, and food waste. Biogas is produced by anaerobic ...
into existing natural gas pipelines. However, California state officials have taken the position that biogas is "better used in hard-to-electrify sectors of the economy-- like aviation, heavy industry and long-haul trucking."
Pipelines
California Energy Commission map (PDF)
* 1944: in light of the 1943/1944 gas shortage crisis in Southern California, new storage capacity needed. 36 miles of 16-inch pipe from the
La Goleta Gas Field to the (Southern Counties Co. owned) Venture compressor station built by
Southern Counties Gas Company ($1,083,290), also built a dehydration plant at Ventura. 66 miles of 18-inch pipe and 12 miles of 22-inch pipe between Ventura and Los Angeles built by the Southern California Gas Company ($2,368,900), pipe for this segment to be built by the Youngstown Sheet and Tube Co. and the
A. O. Smith Company of Milwaukee. 164,000,000cuft capacity planned, increase of Goleta capacity from 60,000,000 to 200,000,000cuft stated at completion. Pacific Lightning Corp. added 4 new dry gas wells tapping into old resources. announce: details:
* Texas-California Pipe Line (1947):
Federal Power Commission
The Federal Power Commission (FPC) was an independent commission of the United States government, originally organized on June 23, 1930, with five members nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate. The FPC was originally created in ...
Docket No. G-675. 214 miles of 30-inch pipeline between
Blythe and
Santa Fe Springs
Santa Fe Springs (''Santa Fe'', Spanish for "Holy Faith") is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is one of the Gateway Cities of southeast Los Angeles County. The population was 19,219 at the 2020 census, up from 16,22 ...
, built in cooperation with the
Southern Counties Gas Company, connecting to the 720 mile 26-inch
El Paso Natural Gas Company line between the Eunice compressor station in
Lea County, New Mexico and Blythe being constructed concurrently. Was initially planned to be 26-inch. Pipes worth $6,000,000 produced by
Consolidated Steel (Maywood plant), steel plates made by
Geneva Steel
Geneva Steel was a steel mill located in Vineyard, Utah, United States, founded during World War II to enhance national steel output. It operated from December 1944 to November 2001. Its unique name came from a resort that once operated nearby o ...
from Utah iron ore. 175,000,000cuft/day initially and 305,000,000cuft/day eventually with further option of the 30-inch segment to 400,000,000cuft/day. Cost: $16,225,000 (California), $53,800,000 (EPNG). 30 year delivery contracts. H. C. Price Co. contracted to build the California segment at an estimated cost of $3,750,000. The line became operational on 13 November 1947, the final length was stated as 212.6 miles. Throughput reaches a new peak of 325,000,000cuft/day in March 1950.
** operation of existing 10 mile 26-inch segment between Santa Fe Springs and Spence Street station as the final leg of the Texas-California pipeline (G-675) (conjecture: the Los Angeles 26-inch distribution system previously ended at Santa Fe Springs or there was a 26-inch pipeline built to carry oil from the Santa Fe Springs field).
** 8.3 miles of 30-inch pipe between Rivera and Garvey jointly with Southern Counties Gas Co. and 4 miles of 30-inch pipe by Southern California Gas Co. exclusively between Garvey and Alhambra. Docket No. G-1045, authorized 28 July 1948. (conjecture: this is the Pasadena lateral referred to as the connection point for the 88 mile segment of G-1079).
** 88 miles of 30-inch pipe to loop, in part, the Texas-California Pipeline from
Whitewater
Whitewater forms in the context of rapids, in particular, when a river's Stream gradient, gradient changes enough to generate so much turbulence that air is trapped within the water. This forms an unstable current that foam, froths, making t ...
to a junction on the Pasadena lateral near
Montebello, Docket No. G-1079. WIth an additional 4,000hp at Blythe, this raises the capacity of the section from Blythe to Los Angeles from 305 to 405,000,000cuft/day. Authorized 10 September 1948. See also: El Paso Natural Gas Docket No. G-1051. (conjecture: this must obviously be the northern arm of the split south of San Bernardino and lays on the same right-of-way to the east of the split for some length).
*** 15 miles of 30-inch pipe from Rivera to the regulating station at Slauson Boulevard and Western Avenue (the other part of G-1079, but not connected to the 88 mile segment)
* Imperial Valley Pipe Line (1948), FPC Docket No. G-1040. 73 mile 8-inch branch from the Texas-California Line near
Desert Center to
Calexico, 16,000,000cuft/day (also stated: 2,546,000,000cuft/year) in the firth year expected. est. cost $1,150,000. Authorized June 1948. Finished 16 December 1948. 1-page
American Gas Journal article (March 1948):
* 35 mile portion in RIverside County of the Moreno Line, a 85 mile, 16-inch pipeline connecting to the 30-inch Texas-California Line near
Moreno. The Riverside County portion, FPC Docket No. G-1157 is a Southern Counties Gas Company - only project. Capacity of 40,000,000cuft/day of El Paso out of state natural gas. Estimated cost $1,931,700. Authorized 25 May 1949. The 50 mile San Diego County portion is G-1162.
The point of connection is on the county border line.
Notes
References
External links
SoCalGas.com: official Southern California Gas Company websiteSoCalGas.com: official Aliso Canyon gas leak website
Sempra website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Southern California Gas Company
Energy in California
Sempra Energy
Electric power companies of the United States
Natural gas companies of the United States
Companies based in Los Angeles
Southern California
Non-renewable resource companies established in 1867
1867 establishments in California
Energy companies established in 1867