Sempra Asks Court to Block Subpoenas

San Diego-based Sempra Energy, owner of the largest U.S. natural gas utility, asked a federal court to block subpoenas from California regulators seeking information about the company’s energy trading during the state’s power crisis.

A Sempra trading unit said in a complaint filed in federal court in San Francisco that the California Public Utilities Commission didn’t have the authority to request information about Sempra Energy Trading’s wholesale energy business because that market was regulated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

“The CPUC’s actions create irreparable harm not only to Sempra Energy Trading but also to the public interest by seeking to investigate activities in the interstate wholesale energy markets, jurisdiction over which Congress has vested in FERC alone,” the complaint says.