WALL, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
New Jersey Natural Gas (NJNG), the regulated subsidiary of New Jersey Resources (NYSE:NJR), today filed with the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) seeking recovery of costs associated with its NJ Reinvestment in System Enhancement (NJ RISE) and Safety Acceleration and Facility Enhancement (SAFE II) programs. If approved, the typical residential heating customer using 100 therms a month would see an increase of $0.68, or 0.65 percent, on their monthly bill.
“We never stop working to ensure safe, reliable service for our customers,” said Mariellen Dugan, senior vice president and chief operating officer of New Jersey Natural Gas. “It’s our top priority and the most important thing we do. The investments we are making in NJ RISE and SAFE II strengthen the integrity of our system and enable us to better meet our customers’ expectations.”
Through NJ RISE, approved by the BPU in 2014, NJNG is investing $102.5 million for a series of capital projects designed to help mitigate the impact of major weather events by enhancing the resiliency of its natural gas distribution and transmission systems. The projects include the installation of secondary natural gas feeds into Sea Bright, Long Beach Island and the Seaside Peninsula, as well as the relocation of a regulator station from Mantoloking to the mainland and two regulator station reinforcement projects in Mantoloking and Long Beach Island, respectively. Additionally, NJNG is installing excess flow valves, which restrict the flow of natural gas when there is a change in pressure, on all distribution services in coastal communities that may be impacted by storm surges and flooding. These upgrades will help minimize the number and duration of outages, improve NJNG’s ability to respond to and control service disruptions and enhance the safety and reliability of its system.
In 2016, the BPU approved NJNG’s SAFE II program to replace the remaining approximately 276 miles of unprotected steel main and associated services in the company’s distribution system. NJNG has been routinely addressing the replacement of these facilities, and in 2015 became the first natural gas utility in New Jersey to eliminate all cast iron from its system.
For both projects, NJNG is allowed to earn an Allowance for Funds Used During Construction (AFUDC) rate on its invested capital during construction and request rate increases for related spending in annual filings over the duration of the programs. Pending BPU approval, NJNG is seeking to adjust its rates effective October 1, 2017 to recover approximately $31.4 million of related NJ RISE and SAFE II costs made through June 30, 2017, resulting in a base rate increase of $4.3 million.
About New Jersey Resources
New Jersey Resources (NYSE:NJR) is a Fortune 1000 company that, through its subsidiaries, provides safe and reliable natural gas and clean energy services, including transportation, distribution, asset management and home services. NJR is comprised of five primary businesses:
- New Jersey Natural Gas, NJR’s principal subsidiary, operates and maintains over 7,300 miles of natural gas transportation and distribution infrastructure to serve over half a million customers in New Jersey’s Monmouth, Ocean and parts of Morris, Middlesex and Burlington counties.
- NJR Energy Services manages a diversified portfolio of natural gas transportation and storage assets and provides physical natural gas services and customized energy solutions to its customers across North America.
- NJR Clean Energy Ventures invests in, owns and operates solar and onshore wind projects with a total capacity of nearly 280 megawatts, providing residential and commercial customers with low-carbon solutions.
- NJR Midstream serves customers from local distributors and producers to electric generators and wholesale marketers through its 50 percent equity ownership in the Steckman Ridge natural gas storage facility and its stake in Dominion Midstream Partners, L.P., as well as its 20 percent equity interest in the PennEast Pipeline Project.
- NJR Home Services provides service contracts as well as heating, central air conditioning, water heaters, standby generators, solar and other indoor and outdoor comfort products to residential homes throughout New Jersey.
NJR and its more than 1,000 employees are committed to helping customers save energy and money by promoting conservation and encouraging efficiency through Conserve to Preserve® and initiatives such as The SAVEGREEN Project® and The Sunlight Advantage®.
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