DOCUMENT AND ENTITY INFORMATION - shares	3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2018	May 03, 2018
Document And Entity Information [Abstract]
Entity Registrant Name	Sempra Energy
Document Type	10-Q
Document Period End Date	Mar. 31, 2018
Amendment Flag	false
Document Fiscal Year Focus	2018
Document Fiscal Period Focus	Q1
Current Fiscal Year End Date	--12-31
Entity Filer Category	Large Accelerated Filer
Entity Common Shares Outstanding		264,137,837
Entity Central Index Key	0001032208
Trading Symbol	SRE