New Jersey Natural Gas Receives Approval for Its Largest Ever Energy-Efficiency Program

New Jersey Resources (NYSE: NJR) announced its principal subsidiary New Jersey Natural Gas (NJNG) received approval from the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities to significantly expand its energy-efficiency offerings available through The SAVEGREEN Project (SAVEGREEN). The program will further its commitment to sustainability and emissions reduction by helping customers lower their energy usage, save money and reduce their carbon footprint. NJNG is authorized to invest $259 million over the three-year program to provide solutions to residential, multi-family and commercial customers to help make energy efficiency affordable.

“NJNG continues to take action on our commitment to sustainability with the largest energy-efficiency program in our company’s history – building on our proven record of voluntary emissions reduction, and investing to build the clean energy future,” said Steve Westhoven, President and CEO of New Jersey Resources. “This significant expansion of our energy-efficiency efforts will allow us to provide even more customers with powerful tools and resources to save energy, lower their bills and reduce emissions for the benefit of the environment.”

The investment consists of approximately $127 million of direct investment, $109 million in financing options and $23 million in operation and maintenance expenses. The initial annual increase for the typical residential heating customer using 1,000 therms per year is estimated to be $21.30 or 1.9% for the first year of the program.

The program positions NJNG to meet or exceed its annual energy-efficiency reduction targets set by the New Jersey Clean Energy Act. If fully subscribed, the program will help NJNG customers save more than 125 million therms of natural gas over the [three-year] program's lifetime. This equates to preventing the release of 663,102 metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere – the same as removing 142,886 cars from New Jersey roadways each year.

Beginning July 1, 2021, NJNG will roll out energy-efficiency programs under SAVEGREEN that include enhanced features for low- to moderate-income customers and a broad range of programs to meet the diverse needs of the commercial and industrial sectors, including restaurants, small offices, convenience stores and other independent businesses. In addition, the program reflects new legislative provisions that shift administration of some programs from the state-run New Jersey’s Clean Energy Program to the utilities and requires that all New Jersey utilities collaborate to provide core offerings that are consistent throughout the state. This requires a new and innovative approach for NJNG to work directly with the electric utilities, Atlantic City Electric and Jersey Central Power & Light, whose service territories overlap with those of NJNG.