The program expands opportunities for hundreds of small and diverse businesses and helps promote economic prosperity
SAN DIEGO, March 13, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — San Diego Gas & Electric's The Procurement Program (SDG&E) generated $2.59 billion in direct economic impact in 2023, contracting with more than 2,000 companies for goods and services to fulfill the company's mission to serve 3.7 million people to provide its service area with an increasingly cleaner, safer and more reliable energy infrastructure.
More than 43% of SDG&E's total spending was attributable to diverse suppliers – minority-owned, women-owned, LGBT people, service-disabled veterans and people with disabilities, according to the company's recent annual supplier diversity report California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). Nearly 600, or a third, of suppliers doing business with SDG&E in 2023 were companies of diverse origins. In 2023, SDG&E's spending on various businesses was $450.6 million in San Diego County and $950.7 million in California. For the 19th consecutive year, SDG&E has not only met but exceeded the CPUC supplier diversity goal.
“We are laser-focused on maximizing every dollar for our customers while expanding economic opportunity for small and diverse businesses in our region,” said Caroline Winn, CEO of SDG&E. “Elevating people by creating opportunity through diversity, equity and inclusion is one of our core values.”
SDG&E contracts with suppliers for a wide range of goods and services, from vegetation management, subsurface engineering, civil engineering and electrical engineering to IT, fire protection, project management and materials procurement and transportation. Since launching its supplier diversity program in the 1980s, SDG&E has helped many small businesses grow into top companies. Some of the company's senior leaders contribute by acting as mentors to various subcontractors.
Last year, SDG&E for the first time hired Rancho Tree Service, a minority-owned company, as a prime contractor to provide vegetation management services, an important part of the company's wildfire protection plan.
“We are a family-owned business and proud of our local operations and the jobs we have created through our vegetation management work with SDG&E,” said Jose De La Cruz, owner of Rancho Tree Service. “Our teams help protect local communities from wildfires by trimming and clearing trees, bushes and other vegetation to prevent them from coming into contact with our electrical infrastructure, such as power lines.”
“Large employers like SDG&E play an important role in sustaining and growing our region’s economy because of the large volumes of goods and services they purchase,” said Mark Cafferty, president and CEO of SDG&E San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation. “Our research shows that when large companies make small changes in procurement to spend more locally, they can help create thousands of jobs and add tens of millions of dollars to the local economy.”
SDG&E continues to expand its diverse supplier pool through collaboration with community-based organizations and business associations. Learn more about how you can do business with SDG&E at sdge.com/SupplierDiversity.
About SDG&E:
SDG&E is an innovative energy utility that provides clean, safe and reliable energy to improve the lives of people in San Diego and southern Orange Counties. The company is committed to creating a sustainable future by increasing energy supply from low or zero-carbon sources. Accelerating electric vehicle adoption; and investing in innovative technologies to ensure the reliable operation of the region's infrastructure for generations to come. SDG&E is a subsidiary of Sempra (NYSE: SRE). For more information, visit SDGEnews.com or contact SDG&E on X (formerly Twitter) (@SDGE), Instagram (@SDGE) and Facebook.
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SOURCE SDG&E
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