SAN DIEGO, Oct. 16, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- This week, San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) joined other California utilities to kick off the 3^nd annual Careers in Energy Week, a nationwide initiative to promote science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education. Careers in Energy Week aims to address the need for a qualified, diverse energy industry workforce and will take place throughout the week of Oct. 13–19.

"At SDG&E, our goal is to support programs that provide tools and resources to students in hopes of engaging them in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math," said Scott Drury, vice president of human resources, diversity and inclusion for SDG&E. "Careers in Energy Week is a great example of how we, as a community, are working together to develop our next generation of leaders in the region."

As a member of the California Energy and Utilities Workforce Consortium, SDG&E and the other member utilities have collaborated to coordinate this year's Careers in Energy Week video contest for local students. The goal of the video contest is to help students learn how energy companies operate, the importance of having energy companies, and the diverse workforce that makes up the utility industry.

The Careers in Energy video contest will give high school and college students the chance to earn cash prizes of up to $1,500 (high school) and $2,000 (college). With a theme of diversity, students will be asked to highlight an aspect of diversity they think is valuable to all utility companies. To learn more about the contest, click here.

The Careers in Energy Week initiative was developed by the National Center for Energy Workforce Development (CEWD) and supported by Gov. Jerry Brown. This is California's third Careers in Energy Week designed to increase awareness about the role energy plays in our daily life at the student level.

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.

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SOURCE San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E)