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Tuesday, Mar 19, 2024
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Ready for a New Challenge

When Debra Reed went to work for Southern California Gas Co. as an energy systems engineer in 1978, she had no idea she was embarking on what would become a decades-long career in utilities management.

“When I started at the utility, it was going to be an 18-month job while my husband was getting his master’s degree,” she recalled. “I had no idea I would be there 32 years later.”

Today, Reed, 53, is near the top rung of management as her distinguished career continues. She has served as president and chief executive officer of SoCalGas and San Diego Gas & Electric Co. since 2006. On April 3, she becomes an executive vice president at parent company Sempra Energy.

With about 13,800 workers, Sempra develops energy infrastructure, runs utilities, and provides services to more than 29 million customers. Its California utilities, SDG&E and SoCalGas, serve more than 20 million people.

Last month, Sempra Energy, listed on the New York Stock Exchange as SRE, reported 2009 earnings of $1.12 billion, compared with 2008 earnings of $1.11 billion. Its revenues declined to $8.1 billion in 2009 from about $10.7 billion in 2008.

Reed served as chief operating officer of the Sempra Energy utilities from 2004 to 2006. She has been president of SoCalGas since 2002 and president of SDG&E since 2000. She was a senior vice president at SoCalGas from 1995 to 2000. The executive served in numerous posts at SoCalGas from 1978 to 1994.

Trial By Fire

Sometimes you grow the most when you face the biggest challenges. Reed said her time at SDG&E has been rewarding, but not always easy. After observing her for years at SoCalGas, Reed’s superiors decided it was time for a change.

“They wanted me to get experience of the electric side of the business,” she recalled. “I became president of SDG&E. I had entered my job about two months after the energy crisis began. It was literally a trial by fire. … The best time to learn is when it is in an extreme activity mode, trying to stay out of bankruptcy. That was a great way to learn the business.”

In recent years, SDG&E has made a push for energy conservation and new technologies, she noted.

“We are investing heavily in technology,” she said. “We are rolling out the smart meters right now. In simplest terms, they are devices that provide real-time information on your energy use. … We have partnered with Google so that customers can go to their iGoogle home page and have a Google power meter that will tell you what electricity you are using in your home. It will go to hourly increments.”

Reed said she is pleased with the way SDG&E has served its customers.

“While SDG&E has sometimes received criticism, if you look at how we compare to other utilities, we are in the top third in the nation for customer service, as rated by J.D. Power. We are the best utility in the western U.S. for electric reliability, which is basically no outages. … The core of our business, our employees, do a really tremendous job in efforts to provide exceptional service to customers.”

Developing Renewable Resources

Reed said one of her goals has been to increase the use of renewable energy. Renewable energy is power that comes from natural resources, such as wind and sunlight.

“I think the thing I am most proud of is being able to get our people to do things that I never thought were possible,” she said. “When we started back in 2003, focusing on … renewable development, we started at about 1 percent renewable at SDG&E. The other utilities were at about 15 percent. We had a goal to get to 20 percent by 2010. We voluntarily committed to go to 33 percent by 2020.

“At the time, that seemed very difficult to achieve, if not impossible,” she added. “I am really proud that we have now 29 percent of renewable under contract for 2014. To me that is an example of setting some high goals and having our people find that they can do things.”

Reed has received many honors during her career. In 2004, she earned a Woman of the Year award from the California Science Center. She received the 23rd annual Tribute to Women and Industry, or TWIN, Award from the YWCA of San Diego County in 2002. Her life isn’t all about work, however.

Outside of her job, Reed has a rich personal life. She has been married for 25 years to Art Drylie, a retired gas company employee. The Rancho Santa Fe resident has one daughter, four stepchildren and 13 grandchildren. She enjoys working in her garden and going for walks with Bacall, her pet Doberman.

Reed views her new job as the latest in a long line of challenges.

“The key change is I will be a corporate officer,” she said. “I will serve on the boards of our unregulated businesses. My experience has been on the regulated side. Now I have the opportunity to learn more about our unregulated operations and add that to my portfolio.”

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