From 89 Customers in 1881 to Assets of $3.6 Billion

From an initial investment of $30,000 and 89 customers in 1881, San Diego Gas & Electric has grown to become the nation’s 22nd-largest utility, with total assets of about $3.6 billion and more than 1 million customers.

The utility was called the San Diego Gas Co. when it was formed on April 18, 1881, by five businessmen to provide gas lighting to what was then called San Diego’s New Town area, situated on what is now Horton Plaza. Less than two months later, the company had constructed a gas plant and installed 3 miles of gas lines to serve its first customers.

Gas lighting remained the utility’s primary product until it merged in May, 1887, with Coronado Gas & Electric Co., which was owned by E. S. Babcock, owner of the Hotel del Coronado. Babcock founded the Coronado-based utility to provide gas and electricity to his hotel. The two companies combined and were renamed the San Diego Gas & Electric Light Co.

After the merger, SDG&E; provided electricity to light 300 arc street lamps. The lamps were lighted only from sundown until midnight, until 24-hour lighting and power became available in 1902.

A recession in 1889 reduced San Diego’s population from 30,000 the previous year to 16,000. After that, SDG&E;’s growth continued at a slow pace, and, by 1890, the company had only 451 gas customers.

SDG&E; now serves about 1 million electric customers and 625,000 gas customers from San Juan Capistrano in Orange County to the Mexican border.

SDG&E; continued to manufacture gas from oil until 1932, when the company began receiving natural gas from Huntington Beach through an 80-mile pipeline. The original oil-burning plant was closed and was used once more during record cold weather in 1949 before it was dismantled in 1950, after almost 70 years of operation. A second pipeline was built in 1949 to bring natural gas from Riverside County.

The utility serves a territory of 4,100 square miles, divided into seven regional service centers. SDG&E; owns 20% of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, which is operated by Southern California Edison.