OTHER FINANCIAL DATA - INVENTORIES (Details) - USD ($) $ in Millions	Sep. 30, 2016	Dec. 31, 2015
Inventory [Line Items]
Natural gas	$ 119	$ 149
Liquefied natural gas	7	6
Materials and supplies	176	143
Total	302	298	[1]
LIFO reserve	8
SDG&E [Member]
Inventory [Line Items]
Natural gas	1	6
Liquefied natural gas	0	0
Materials and supplies	72	69
Total	73	75
SoCalGas [Member]
Inventory [Line Items]
Natural gas	24	49
Liquefied natural gas	0	0
Materials and supplies	53	30
Total	77	79
Sempra South American Utilities [Member]
Inventory [Line Items]
Natural gas	0	0
Liquefied natural gas	0	0
Materials and supplies	46	30
Total	46	30
Sempra Mexico [Member]
Inventory [Line Items]
Natural gas	0	0
Liquefied natural gas	4	3
Materials and supplies	2	10
Total	6	13
Sempra Renewables [Member]
Inventory [Line Items]
Natural gas	0	0
Liquefied natural gas	0	0
Materials and supplies	3	3
Total	3	3
Sempra Natural Gas [Member]
Inventory [Line Items]
Natural gas	94	94
Liquefied natural gas	3	3
Materials and supplies	0	1
Total	97	98
Southern California Gas Company [Member]
Inventory [Line Items]
Total	77	$ 79	[1]
LIFO reserve	8
Southern California Gas Company [Member] | Minimum [Member]
Inventory [Line Items]
Permanent LIFO liquidation	10
Southern California Gas Company [Member] | Maximum [Member]
Inventory [Line Items]
Permanent LIFO liquidation	$ 15

[1] Derived from audited financial statements.