New Jersey Natural Gas Files with the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities to Recover Costs for Infrastructure Programs

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 New Jersey Reinvestment in System Enhancement (NJ RISE) and Safety Acceleration and Facility Enhancement II (SAFE II) programs. If approved, the typical residential heating customer using 100 therms a month would see an increase of $1.08, or 1.1 percent, on their monthly bill effective October 1, 2018.

“Our customers count on us to keep their homes warm and businesses running,” said Stephen Westhoven, executive vice president and COO of New Jersey Resources. “The infrastructure investments we are making through programs, such as SAFE II and NJ RISE, strengthen our system and deliver safe, reliable service to our customers – now and in the future.”

In 2014, the BPU approved NJ RISE and a total investment of $102.5 million for a series of capital projects designed to help mitigate the impact of severe weather events by enhancing the resiliency of its natural gas distribution and transmission systems. Over the past 12 months, NJNG installed 3,300 feet of a secondary natural gas main between Brick and Mantoloking in northern Ocean County, with expected operation by April 2018. The company completed the reinforcement of a regulator station in Long Beach Island that was placed into service in November 2017, with complete construction expected in April 2018. NJNG also expects to install and place into service approximately 9,000 feet of a secondary natural gas line into Seaside Park by June 2018. 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 its distribution system. NJNG has been routinely addressing the replacement of these facilities, and has eliminated an additional 20 miles of unprotected steel main through February 2018. To date, it has replaced a total of 91 miles. In 2015, NJNG became the first natural gas utility in the state to eliminate all cast iron from its system.

For both programs, 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. NJNG is seeking to adjust its rates effective October 1, 2018 to recover approximately $60.4 million of related NJ RISE and SAFE II costs made through June 30, 2018, resulting in a base rate increase of $6.9 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 composed of five primary businesses:

• New Jersey Natural Gas, NJR’s principal subsidiary, operates and maintains over 7,400 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 Clean Energy Ventures invests in, owns and operates solar and onshore wind projects with a total capacity of more than 300 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 physical natural gas services and customized energy solutions to its customers across North America.
• 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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