(NEWARK, N.J. – June 3, 2021) Public Service Electric and Gas, New Jersey’s largest utility, is well prepared to meet customer demand for safe, reliable electricity this summer. The utility has made significant infrastructure investments, including more than $1.7 billion in electric projects and approximately $821 million in gas projects since last May.  

“Our preparation enables PSE&G customers’ power to stay on more than 99 percent of the time,” said Jack Bridges, PSE&G vice president – electric operations. “Our investments in new infrastructure have helped us remain one of the nation’s most reliable utility companies, bringing significant benefits to PSE&G customers.”

“Each year, we strengthen our distribution system so that fewer customers experience outages and, when they do occur, the duration is shorter,” Bridges said. “One major effort this year involved adding more smart devices across the state to bolster safety, resiliency and reliability.”

PSE&G is also implementing, through December 2023, a number of significant reliability improvements under its $842 million Energy Strong II program. These programs include:

• Raising and hardening equipment in 16 stations located in flood zones
• Upgrading to smart grid technologies to reduce the number of people impacted by an outage (rerouting electricity quickly around problems), enable swifter deployment of repair teams and reduce outage durations
• Storm hardening of certain circuits to reduce power outages by adding measures such as upgraded poles and cables that are more resistant to tree and limb damage
• Creating an advanced distribution management system to make the system smarter, improve outage response and upgrade and secure vital communications networks.

For 2021, PSE&G completed the $739 million Metuchen-Trenton-Burlington project, strengthening the electric transmission system between the Metuchen Switching Station and the Burlington Switching Station. Over the course of this project, we modified, upgraded or reconfigured 17 electric stations and 55-miles of overhead transmission circuits.

In addition, PSE&G energized the second and final segment of the $90 million Aldene-Warinanco-Linden project, which upgraded 6 miles of 230kV overhead transmission circuits from the Aldene Station to the Linden VFT Station.

We also continue to expand our growing 69kV network statewide, have completed a number of substation hardening and transformer replacement projects to maintain reliability, and have completed circuit upgrades to improve the reliability of 583 circuits that serve over 725,000 customers across the state.

In addition to the investments in our electric system, our Gas System Modernization Program work will continue throughout the summer in neighborhoods across New Jersey, with details available for customers here. This second phase, known as GSMP II, started in January 2019 and will upgrade up to 875 miles of aging pipes to durable plastic and make other gas infrastructure improvements through 2023. Through May 2021, we have upgraded some 619 miles of mains under GSMP II.

Prepared for Additional Power Demand

The 2021 forecasted summer peak is 9,871 megawatts. Last year’s peak was 9,557 megawatts, set on July 22, 2020.  

PSE&G expects to have no problem delivering additional power, and utility crews are ready to respond to service interruptions should they occur. The utility’s rigorous preparedness program for summer includes: conducting annual hurricane and tropical storm drills; employee training; developing emergency summer operating plans and performing summer peak reliability analysis; helicopter and climbing inspections of transmission circuits; infrared inspections; audits and inventories; equipment repairs and replacements; system reinforcements, and transmission line work. We continually refine our emergency preparedness program to ensure we maintain the highest possible level of reliability for our customers.

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PSE&G

Public Service Electric & Gas Co. (PSE&G) is New Jersey’s oldest and largest gas and electric delivery public utility, serving three-quarters of the state’s population. PSE&G is the winner of the ReliabilityOne Award for superior electric system reliability in the Mid-Atlantic region. In 2020, PSE&G was named the most trusted combined gas & electric utility in the East Region, by the Cogent Syndicated Brand Trust Index. PSE&G is a subsidiary of Public Service Enterprise Group Inc. (PSEG) (NYSE:PEG), a diversified energy company. PSEG has been named to the Dow Jones Sustainability Index for North America for 13 consecutive years.

Forward-Looking Statements

The statements contained in this press release that are not purely historical are “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated. Such statements are based on management’s beliefs as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to management. Factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated in any forward-looking statements made by us herein are discussed in our Annual Report on Form 10-K and subsequent reports on Form 10-Q and Form 8-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and available on our website: https://investor.pseg.com. All of the forward-looking statements made in this press release are qualified by these cautionary statements and we cannot assure you that the results or developments anticipated by management will be realized or even if realized, will have the expected consequences to, or effects on, us or our business, prospects, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements in making any investment decision. Forward-looking statements made in this press release apply only as of the date hereof. While we may elect to update forward-looking statements from time to time, we specifically disclaim any obligation to do so, even in light of new information or future events, unless otherwise required by applicable securities laws.