New Jersey Natural Gas
NEW JERSEY NATURAL GAS ANNOUNCES 17.6 PERCENT DECREASE IN ANNUAL BGSS AND CIP FILING
06/01/2009 - For Immediate Release“As a result of the recent decline in wholesale natural gas costs, New Jersey Natural Gas is pleased to pass those savings on to our customers,” said Kathleen T. Ellis, COO and executive vice president at NJNG. “With the heavy toll the economic downturn has taken on people throughout our service territory, these savings will provide some welcome relief. We will continue to watch the natural gas markets and do everything we can to help our customers manage their natural gas costs. We will also continue our outreach efforts to let customers know about programs available to help them lower their costs including NJNG’s Conserve to Preserve programs, rebates from New Jersey’s Clean Energy Program and federal tax credits.”
A typical customer using 100 therms a month would see their bill go from $170.05 to $140.17, a savings of $29.88. A customer using 1000 therms annually would see a savings of nearly $300. This proposed decrease is in addition to the bill credits provided from January through March of this year, resulting in customer savings of approximately $110. The proposed decrease would result in natural gas bills that are at their lowest since the fall of 2005.
The majority of customers’ natural gas bills consist of two separate charges. The first, known as the base rate charge, is the cost of delivering natural gas service to homes and businesses. The second, the BGSS, is a commodity charge passed through to customers based on NJNG’s cost to acquire natural gas. This portion accounts for approximately 65 percent of a customer’s bill. Any change in the BGSS does not represent a change to profits to the company.
As always, the best way for customers to manage their energy costs is by conserving energy and using it efficiently. The CIP enables NJNG to more actively encourage customer conservation and energy-efficiency improvements while stabilizing margins that might be impacted by changes in usage patterns. In the 7-month period ended April 30, 2009, customers realized commodity cost savings of approximately $8 million due to their reduced natural gas usage. In addition, customers will continue to receive annual savings of $12.6 million in fixed-cost reductions as a result of lower demand fee charges.
New Jersey Natural Gas (NJNG) is the principal subsidiary of New Jersey Resources (NYSE: NJR), a Fortune 1000 company. NJNG serves more than 486,000 customers in New Jersey’s Monmouth, Ocean, Middlesex and Morris counties. This service area’s demographics and quality of life contribute greatly to NJNG’s growth. NJNG’s progress is a tribute to the dedicated employees who have shared their expertise and focus on quality through more than 50 years of serving customers and the community to make the company a leader in the competitive energy marketplace. For more information, visit NJNG’s Web site at www.njng.com.
Contact:
Michael Kinney, Media
732-938-1031
Dennis Puma, Investors
732-938-1229
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