NEWARK, N.J., June 23, 2008 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ ----In the first proposal of its kind to be filed under New Jersey's new legislation that addresses regional greenhouse gases, Public Service Electric and Gas Company (PSE&G) today unveiled a new program designed to curb customers' energy consumption, resulting in lower customer bills and a meaningful reduction in carbon dioxide emissions.
The innovative filing with the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) was made today under the recently enacted Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) legislation, which encourages utilities to invest in conservation and energy efficiency programs as part of its regulated business. The legislation, signed into law on January 13, 2008, requires the BPU to review and act on the filing within 180 days.
"The RGGI legislation rightly recognizes the important role utilities like PSE&G can play in helping customers use energy more efficiently," said Ralph LaRossa, PSE&G president and COO. "It's clear that meeting our state's goals to reduce harmful carbon emissions will take more than just talking about conservation. We need to give customers -- especially those in our urban centers -- greater direct access to energy-saving tools and information that will lead to concrete, meaningful reductions."
Through a number of small-scale sub-programs, the company will provide energy-saving measures such as home energy audits, programmable thermostats, attic insulation and high-efficiency lighting upgrades to about 30,000 residential and business customers. The proposal, if approved by the BPU, would enable the utility and regulators to determine the best way to implement broader initiatives to reach the state's aggressive carbon reduction goals.
Several of the sub-programs are targeted to those customers who find it the most difficult to make the up-front investments in energy-saving measures, LaRossa said.
"Achieving our state's ambitious goals will require that everyone has access to the same energy-saving tools, whether you live in a city like Trenton or Newark or the suburbs. We want to provide the same universal access to conservation and efficiency programs as we do for safe, reliable electric and gas service."
PSE&G will invest up to $45.9 million in this energy efficiency and conservation program over four years. Two of the sub-programs will be available to eligible customers in Trenton and Newark during the initial year. In the following years, they will be expanded to customers in additional municipalities that contain Urban Enterprise Zones (UEZs) within PSE&G's service territory. There are also two program segments that focus on improving efficiency in hospitals.