SAN DIEGO, March 3, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) announced another strong year of purchasing goods and services with diverse suppliers, exceeding the California Public Utilities Commission's (CPUC) diverse spending goal for the ninth year in a row. In 2014, SDG&E reported that 44.4 percent or nearly $492 million of products and services were purchased from women, minority, and service-disabled veteran-owned businesses.

"At SDG&E, we value diversity not only because it's good for business and benefits the community, but also because these efforts give rise to new ideas, promote cost savings and keep us connected to the communities we serve," said Jeff Martin, chief executive officer of SDG&E.

The 2014 results were driven by the utility's core business, such as electric distribution operations, operations support and electric transmission and system engineering. Diverse suppliers contributed 72 percent of spend or $353.7 million in these areas.

SDG&E's major capital projects are another strategic driver for results, and 2014 proved to be another successful year with the East County Substation (ECO) project and the Pipeline Safety Enhancement Program (PSEP) providing a significant level of diverse business spending. ECO was completed in 2014 to improve reliability and serve as a connecting point for renewable energy resources and DBE participation was $79.3 million in 2014. The PSEP program continues to advance opportunities for diverse businesses and achieved more than 60 percent, or $17 million in DBE spend.

"SDG&E is a leader in the effective implementation of a world-class supplier diversity program," said Ron Garnett, President and CEO of Council for Supplier Diversity. "In 2014, they won our Corporation of the Year for Supplier Diversity Leadership Award. This recognizes a corporation that has served as a role model in the area of supplier diversity. SDG&E has been a consistent partner in helping to create economic opportunity in our underserved communities."

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 878,000 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.

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SOURCE San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E)