GAS COMPANY TO EXTINGUISH ITS FLAME LOGO.

Byline: Derek Andrade Staff Writer

The Southern California Gas Co. will drop its high-profile blue and white flame logo that has been a part of the natural gas provider's image since 1924.

The flame-out is part of The Gas Co.'s integration into its new parent company, San Diego-based Sempra Energy Co. Sempra was created in the June 1998 merger of Pacific Enterprises and San Diego-based Enova Corp.

``We want the public to know that we are part of a corporate family,'' said Anthony Tartaglia, a Gas Co. district manager in Pasadena.

The Los Angles-based SoCal Gas Co. will begin the transition in January, with customers seeing a new, combined logo on everything from billing statements to corporate facilities.

The natural gas subsidiary will then drop the flame on all of its corporate materials in 2001, company officials said. The new logo will use the Sempra Energy mark, in what Sempra officials call a ``humanistic figure offering energy to the world'' that appears to be holding a symbol resembling a flame.

The addition of the Sempra Energy logo will not come cheap, costing an estimated $1 million for the switch. ``We're taking every step to minimize the cost to our customers,'' said Tartaglia.

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Photo: no caption (blue and white falme logo)