Commission-Initiated Investigation

Rather than a civil suit by one private party against another, the Commission itself initiated this proceeding under various provisions of the Public Utilities Code including sections 451, 701, 761, 798, and 2101-2113. The Order Instituting Investigation (OII), filed February 27, 2003, has as its principal focus the concern that "unregulated affiliates of the respondent utilities have substantial business activities within the utilities' service territories that may create conflicts between the utilities (and the utilities' ratepayers) and their unregulated affiliates." OII at 1. The OII also specifies that the investigation "will review the activities of SDG&E, SoCalGas, their holding company and unregulated affiliates to determine if they have complied with the Commission's prior decisions and rules." Id. at 6. Thus, the Commission initiated an investigation of Sempra entities to examine the conduct and relationship among the regulated utilities and unregulated affiliates such as SET.