NEW YORK, Nov. 19, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Last night, San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) was recognized by PA Consulting Group, Inc. as the recipient of the 2014 ReliabilityOne™ National Reliability Excellence Award. This is the second time SDG&E has received this prestigious national honor. Additionally, SDG&E took home the award for Outstanding Customer Engagement.

The ReliabilityOne™ National Reliability Excellence Award is given to the regional award recipient that has demonstrated sustained leadership, innovation and achievement in the area of electric reliability. The selection criteria for the ReliabilityOne™ National Reliability Excellence Award are both quantitative and qualitative including: superior regional performance, sustained performance over time, improved performance over time, leadership in outage data collection and reporting systems, processes, procedures and controls, organizational and cultural focus on reliability, communication, planning, preparation, and response to major outage events contributions to regional system security and reliability.

"We're honored to be named the most reliable utility in the nation," said Steven D. Davis, president and chief operating officer of SDG&E. "At SDG&E we're focused on our core business of providing reliable and safe energy service. From our efforts to physically strengthen the grid, to developing new channels for connecting with our customers, and our commitment to renewable energy, everything comes back to our dedication to safety, reliability, and our customers."

SDG&E's efforts to enhance reliability include:

• Using real-time data from smart meters to speed up the detection and restoration of power outages for the benefit of the community.
• Proactively replaced nearly 1,000 miles of underground cable, and approximately 2,200 wooden transmission poles have been replaced with resilient steel poles in areas where wildfire risk is highest.
• Leveraging technology to enhance vegetation management by developing a digitized database of more than 450,000 trees near our electric facilities, helping to identify when trimming is needed, thus reducing outages and potential safety issues in the community.

"To be home to the utility that leads the nation in reliability is yet another reason to appreciate all that San Diego offers," said City of San Diego Mayor Kevin L. Faulconer. "I applaud the leadership of SDG&E for their efforts to not only provide reliable energy, which is an essential part of San Diego's economy, but also for their commitment to renewable energy."

In addition to strengthening the grid, SDG&E is on track to become the first California Investor-Owned Utility to receive 33 percent of its power from clean solar and wind resources.

"Utilities are on the doorstep of a technological leap that will set new expectations for how companies handle reliability and, really, all aspects of their business," said Jeff Lewis, PA Consulting Group's ReliabilityOne Program Director. "SDG&E has shown a commitment to reliability that will serve as a cornerstone for its customers as new advances are adopted to further improve response and restoration times."

PA Consulting Group also awarded SDG&E for "Outstanding Customer Engagement." The award recognizes SDG&E's excellence in engaging with their customers by providing real-time access to energy information. SDG&E was applauded for new services such as the utility's mobile app, upgrades to the online outage map to help customers know when there is a planned or unplanned power outage in their area so they can plan ahead, and use of social media to connect with customers.

The ReliabilityOne™ award is given annually to utilities that have excelled in delivering reliable electric service to their customers. All utilities operating electric delivery networks in North America are eligible for consideration for the ReliabilityOne™ award. Selection of provisional recipients is based primarily on system reliability statistics that measure the frequency and duration of customer outages. After provisional recipients are selected, each company undergoes an on-site certification process, which provides an independent review and confirmation of the policies, processes and systems used to collect, analyze and report a company's reliability results.

At the event, SDG&E was also named "Best in the West" for electric reliability for the ninth consecutive year. This award recognizes SDG&E's overall reliability performance as compared to other utilities in the western region of the United States.

SDG&E is a regulated public utility that provides safe and reliable energy service to 3.4 million consumers through 1.4 million electric meters and 861,000 natural gas meters in San Diego and southern Orange counties. The utility's area spans 4,100 square miles. SDG&E is committed to creating ways to help customers save energy and money every day. SDG&E is a subsidiary of Sempra Energy (NYSE: SRE), a Fortune 500 energy services holding company based in San Diego. Connect with SDG&E's Customer Contact Center at 800-411-7343, on Twitter (@SDGE) and Facebook.

About PA Consulting Group
PA Consulting Group (PA) is an employee-owned firm of over 2,500 people, operating globally from offices across North America, Europe, the Nordics, the Gulf and Asia Pacific. PA has experts in energy, financial services, life sciences and healthcare, manufacturing, government and public services, defense and security, telecommunications, transport and logistics. PA's deep industry knowledge, together with skills in management consulting, technology and innovation, allows them to challenge conventional thinking and deliver exceptional results with lasting impact. PA has partnered with energy clients for over 25 years to help them understand the challenges they face and define and implement an effective strategic response. PA's ReliabilityOne™ awards are presented to electric utilities providing their customers with the highest levels of reliability in the industry. PA's ReliabilityOne™ study is based on standard industry reliability statistics that measure the frequency and duration of electric power outages and has been analyzing electric utility performance since 1987. For more information about PA Consulting Group, visit paconsulting.com/energy.

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SOURCE San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E)