South Jersey Gas, subsidiary of South Jersey Industries, received New Jersey Board of Public Utilities approval today for the company’s Storm Hardening and Reliability Program. With its SHARP program, SJG will invest $103.5 million over the next three years to enhance and protect its infrastructure in advance of future significant weather events. The program was developed in response to a BPU request that utilities develop infrastructure enhancement programs that would help protect their energy delivery systems from future storms.
“While we were fortunate to come through Superstorm Sandy largely unscathed, we need to be as prepared as possible for whatever storm may come in the future,” said Jeffrey E. DuBois, president of South Jersey Gas. “The program approved today allows us to do just that, by building greater resiliency into our system and protecting areas we serve that are most susceptible to storm related damage – along the barrier islands of Atlantic and Cape May counties.”
The program’s primary focus is to upgrade the company’s lower operating pressure distribution systems. Lower pressure systems, by nature, are more susceptible to water intrusion during significant storms with flooding conditions. By upgrading this infrastructure and associated operating pressures, SJG is working to ensure the continued operation of its system during and after a major storm event.
Specifically, work will take place in Atlantic City, Ventnor, Margate, Longport, Ocean City, Wildwood, North Wildwood, Wildwood Crest and West Cape May. In total, SJG expects to replace about 93 miles of natural gas mains and approximately 11,100 associated services during the next three years under this initiative.
There will be no immediate impact to customer bills as a result of the program. Costs will be recovered through annual adjustments to SJG base rates on October 1 of each year of the program. It’s important to note that consistently low natural gas prices, resulting from the dramatic increase in gas supplies from shale formations such as the Marcellus, have helped offset the rate impact of other infrastructure investments made by SJG in recent years. This abundance of supply has contributed to customer bills currently being, on average, lower than they were more than 10 years ago.
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