Sempra Energy is a public,
for-profit, Fortune 200 company that refines, collects, and distributes natural
gas throughout Southern California under the oversight of federal regulations.
The holding company, Sempra Energy, is made up of the four companies: San Diego
Gas & Electric, Southern California Gas Company, Sempra US Gas & Power,
and Sempra International. This corporate organizational structure is a complex
supply chain network created to satisfy multiple stakeholders - energy
customers, company shareholders, and federal government regulations. San Diego
Gas & Electric and Southern California Gas Company are California utilities
that are federally regulated to run the monopolistic role of energy providers
within Southern California. Sempra US Gas & Power and Sempra International “develop
and operate energy infrastructure and provide gas and electric services in
North America and South America” through the transportation infrastructure of
the two utility companies [1]. Figure 1 below depicts the various resources and
operations of Sempra Energy used to provide Sothern California with natural
gas.
Figure 1
The well thought out corporate structure
of Sempra Energy forms a supply chain network that delivers natural gas and
electricity to customers safely, both, physically and financially. Sempra has
chosen to implement mainly internal sourcing with some captive offshoring to best
please involved stakeholders. Controlling the vertical stack of energy flow
from energy harnessing (ie. wind farms, natural gas power plants),
transportation (gas pipelines, electrical lines), to distribution (Gas/Electric
Utilities) allows more oversight and insight into the energy supply chain. As
Sempra Energy interacts with costumers as well as energy creation, the bullwhip
effect is reduced as information can be shared internally amongst the various
companies rather than if the various companies were not united under one brand.
Yet, even though Sempra has keen
insight into its energy supply chain, it also uses many outside suppliers to
accomplish its goals. Rather than only using major suppliers, Sempra makes a
point to incorporate supplier diversity to achieve security and reliability. Reliance
on one major supplier of a particular service is dangerous as that one supplier
may fail to operate under certain circumstances. By incorporating supplier diversity,
known as “Diverse Business Enterprises” Sempra provides customers with more
reliable service; a characteristic demanded by Southern California energy
consumers. Sempra’s percentage of Diverse Business Enterprise spending is
depicted in Figure 2 [2].
Figure 2
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