ENERGY

SoCal Gas Opposes Power Proposal: Southern California Gas Co. is asking federal regulators to reject a power transmission plan by California’s three largest utilities, saying the plan could hurt its sales to power plants in the state. Los Angeles-based SoCal Gas, the largest natural gas utility in the U.S., said the utilities’ proposal would charge consumers for moving power through regional transmission systems. That would give an advantage to out-of-state generators, who could then ship more power from coal-fired and nuclear plants into Southern California and leave some of the state’s natural gas-fired plants idled, SoCal Gas said. It argued that California would be better served by splitting transmission costs between consumers and distant generators, an approach already used in England and Wales. It urged the California Public Utilities Commission to push the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to support its compromise plan for splitting costs.