DOCUMENT AND ENTITY INFORMATION - shares	3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2016	Apr. 28, 2016
Document And Entity Information [Abstract]
Entity Registrant Name	Sempra Energy
Document Type	10-Q
Document Period End Date	Mar. 31, 2016
Amendment Flag	false
Document Fiscal Year Focus	2016
Document Fiscal Period Focus	Q1
Current Fiscal Year End Date	--12-31
Entity Filer Category	Large Accelerated Filer
Entity Common Shares Outstanding		249,496,738
Entity Central Index Key	0001032208
Trading Symbol	SRE