South Jersey Gas customers get a break on their bills

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South Jersey Gas customers will soon benefit from the $8.1 billion acquisition of parent company South Jersey Industries, announced in January.  

How? By way of about $17.3 million in bill credits.  

South Jersey Gas made the announcement April 26, adding that the bill credits will start this month and be made in two annual installments. 

“The bill credits reflect our commitment to being a trusted provider of safe, reliable, affordable natural gas to the communities we serve,” South Jersey Gas President and Chief Operating Officer Brent Schomber said in a statement. 

Under the terms of the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities’ approval of Infrastructure Investments Fund’s acquisition of SJI earlier this year, the company committed to, among other measures, $75 million in financial benefits for subsidiaries Elizabethtown Gas and South Jersey Gas customers, including a rate credit to all customers and bill relief for certain accounts in arrears due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The bill credits will be split into two installments:  

• The first credit of $41.55 per customer will be applied to accounts on or about April 26, 2023, and reflected on the next subsequent bill.  
• The second amount will be determined next year and will be applied to customer accounts on or about April 26, 2024.   

South Jersey Gas said customers do not need to do anything to receive the credits and that they will be automatically applied to existing balances or remain in the customers’ accounts to pay for future gas usage. 

These bill credits are in addition to the recent reduction in gas supply rates customers may have noticed on their bills, beginning March 1. For a typical residential heating customer using 100 therms of natural gas per month, this reduction amounts to about $15.85, or 7.7%, compared with rates in effect immediately before this decrease.   

SJI joins fellow gas companies New Jersey Natural Gas and PSE&G, which also lowered their rates because of the decrease in natural gas prices over the past few months. 

South Jersey Gas serves more than 400,000 residential, commercial and industrial customers in Atlantic, Burlington, Camden, Cape May, Cumberland, Gloucester and Salem counties.