New Jersey Natural Gas Announces Rate Decrease

Business Wirevia The Motley Fool
Updated

New Jersey Natural Gas Announces Rate Decrease

WALL, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- New Jersey Natural Gas (NJNG) today submitted its annual Basic Gas Supply Service (BGSS) and Conservation Incentive Program (CIP) filings with the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU), and received approval to recover expenditures associated with the capital investments made under its Accelerated Infrastructure Program (AIP). As a result of the BPU action and NJNG's previous notice to regulators, the net effect will be an overall 4.3 percent decrease for residential and small commercial customers effective June 1, 2013. Pending approval of NJNG's CIP rate, this decrease will grow by an additional 0.9 percent effective October 1, 2013, for a total decrease of 5.2 percent. Any change to NJNG's CIP rate requires BPU approval before it can be implemented.

Based on NJNG's previous notice to New Jersey regulators, beginning in the June billing cycle, the typical residential heat customer using 100 therms a month would see their bill go from $120.58 to $115.45, a savings of $5.13. On an annual basis, a customer using 1,000 therms a year would see their bill go from $1,222.30 to $1,171, a savings of $51.30. Additionally, should NJNG's proposed CIP filing be approved by the BPU, that same customer's annual savings will increase to $62.50 in October, bringing their bill down to $1,159.80.


"Today's filings reflect NJNG's ongoing strategies and commitment to identify savings for our customers," said Laurence M. Downes, chairman and CEO of NJNG. "Thanks to the dedication of our exceptional team of employees, we are able to take advantage of our natural gas purchasing and storage strategies to help provide savings for our customers."

NJNG's BGSS filing represents the commodity charge passed through to customers based on the company's cost to acquire natural gas. This portion accounts for approximately 52 percent of a customer's bill. Any change in the BGSS does not represent a change in profits to the company.

The CIP is designed to promote conservation and energy-efficiency practices, while normalizing year-to-year fluctuations from changing weather and usage patterns on both NJNG's financial margins and customers' bills. The anticipated rate decrease reflects a change in weather from the warmer-than-normal temperatures experienced last year. Such adjustments are included in NJNG's delivery rate, which represents the cost of delivering natural gas service to homes and businesses. Since its inception, CIP has helped NJNG customers realize cost savings of $264million.

The BPU also approved NJNG's final AIP settlement. Through the AIP, NJNG can recover the costs associated with capital investments that expand and enhance the safety and reliability of its delivery system while helping to stimulate economic development and promote job growth. NJNG has invested a total of $130 million since 2009 throughout Monmouth, Ocean and Morris counties to accelerate previously planned capital work, including main replacements, system reinforcements and expansions, to ensure the continued integrity of its distribution system.

About New Jersey Resources

New Jersey Resources (NYS: NJR) is a Fortune 1000 company that provides safe and reliable natural gas and renewable energy services, including transportation, distribution and asset management. With annual revenues of $2 billion, NJR is comprised of five key businesses:

  • New Jersey Natural Gas, NJR's principal subsidiary,operates and maintains 7,000 miles of natural gas transportation and distribution infrastructure to serve approximately half a million customers in New Jersey's Monmouth, Ocean and parts of Morris and Middlesex counties.

  • NJR Clean Energy Ventures is a leading renewable energy company that invests in, owns and operates solar and onshore wind projects with a total capacity in excess of 47 megawatts, providing residential and commercial customers with low carbon solutions.

  • NJR Energy Services manages a diversified portfolio of natural gas transportation and storage assets and provides customized energy solutions to its customers across North America.

  • NJR Home Services is a provider of heating, central air conditioning, standby generators, solar and other indoor and outdoor comfort products to nearly 130,000 residential homes and businesses throughout New Jersey.

  • NJR Energy Holdings invests and maintains an equity ownership in a natural gas storage facility and a transportation pipeline, and serves companies from local distributors and producers to electric generators and wholesale marketers.

NJR and its more than 900 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®.

For more information about NJR:
Visit www.njresources.com.
Follow us on Twitter @NJNaturalGas.
"Like" us at facebook.com/NewJerseyNaturalGas.
Download our free NJR investor relations app for iPad.



New Jersey Resources
Media:
Michael Kinney, 732-938-1031
mkinney@njresources.com
or
Investors:
Dennis Puma, 732-938-1229
dpuma@njresources.com

KEYWORDS: United States North America New Jersey

INDUSTRY KEYWORDS:

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