New Jersey Natural Gas Submits Annual Filings to BPU

Proposed 4% Increase Driven by Warmer Winter Weather and Energy-Efficiency Program Recovery

On Jun 3, 2019

New Jersey Natural Gas (NJNG), the regulated subsidiary of New Jersey Resources, submitted its annual Basic Gas Supply Service (BGSS), Conservation Incentive Program (CIP) and energy-efficiency program recovery filings to the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU). The net effect for the typical residential heating customer using 100 therms a month is an increase of 4%, or $4.12 per month, driven by last winter’s warmer weather and recovery of NJNG’s energy-efficiency investments. Even with this proposed rate increase, customers’ bills would still be 37% lower than 2008.

“Providing our customers with safe and reliable service is our top priority,” said Steve Westhoven, president and COO of New Jersey Natural Gas. “Through our purchasing strategies and energy-efficiency programs, we are committed to helping our customers manage their energy use and costs. We continue to monitor market conditions and look for opportunities that benefit our customers.”

In its filings, NJNG requested a 1.4% BGSS decrease and a 2.4% Balancing Charge increase on the typical customer bill. The BGSS and Balancing Charge recover the cost of natural gas supply delivered to NJNG’s system to serve its customers and balance deliveries with customer usage. NJNG also requested a 2.5% increase related to its CIP, a program designed to help normalize rates for annual weather and usage fluctuations. When combined, the impact of the BGSS and CIP filing is an increase of 3.5%.

NJNG’s BGSS filing represents the commodity charge passed through to customers based on the company’s cost to acquire natural gas. Any change to this rate does not result in a change in profits to the company. The CIP normalizes year-to-year fluctuation from changing weather and usage patterns on both customers’ bills and NJNG’s financial margins. This past December to April was 7.6% warmer than the same period last year.

In a separate filing, NJNG also is seeking a 0.5% increase related to its energy-efficiency rate, which recovers costs associated with The SAVEGREEN Project® offerings, including investment in energy-efficient equipment upgrades and whole-house improvements. Since its inception in 2009, NJNG has invested more than $170 million to assist over 54,000 customers upgrade to energy efficiency and save energy and money.

Pending BPU approval, the overall 4% change would take effect Oct. 1.

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