PSE&G reports strong 4th quarter profit as Hurricane Sandy repair costs recede
By Alexi Friedman | The Star-Ledger
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Public Service Electric & Gas reported fourth quarter net income that was twice as high as in 2012, the company said today. Above, PSE&G crews earlier this month repair power lines on Gordon Avenue in Lawrenceville.
(Saed Hindash/The Star-Ledger)
With Hurricane Sandy-related repairs now in the rearview mirror, Public Service Electric & Gas reported fourth-quarter net income that nearly doubled over the same period in 2012, the company said in a statement today.
New Jersey's largest utility reported a profit of $144 million, or 29 cents a share, from October through December. By comparison, it netted $75 million , or 15 cents a share, during the same period a year earlier.
The Newark-based utility, which estimated it spent between $250 million and $300 million in Hurricane Sandy damage expenses, also benefited from an increase in capital investments, said Ralph Izzo, chief executive of parent company Public Service Enterprise Group.
PSEG also today reported a fourth-quarter earnings increase: $248 million compared to $207 million in 2012, excluding special items.
PSEG, whose three subsidiaries are PSE&G, PSEG Power — its wholesale energy supplier — and PSEG Energy Holdings, earned $1.3 billion in 2013, compared to $1.23 billion the year before, excluding special items. On Dec. 31, PSEG added the Long Island Power Authority to its subsidiaries when it entered into a 12-year agreement to run the region's electric transmission and distribution system.
PSE&G contributed the largest portion of earnings to the company for the quarter, PSEG chief financial officer Caroline Dorsa said today in a conference call with analysts.
For all of 2013, PSE&G reported a rise in net income: $612 million compared to $528 million the year before.
PSE&G has been approved to build a $1.2 billion transmission line project linking its existing Linden and Bergen power plants. That project is expected to be completed by June 2018. Its cost, like nearly all utility investments, would get passed on to the company's 2.1 million customers.
Citing the frigid, storm-filled winter, Izzo said the company has "responded to record demand" from customers. In its statement, PSEG noted that "economic conditions in the service area have stabilized and exhibit signs of a slow recovery," with demand for natural gas continuing to grow in part because of low prices.
PSE&G has yet to file to recover the costs of Hurricane Sandy-related damages it spent. Last year, it filed a separate $3.9 billion, 10-year grid-hardening project that the state Board of Public Utilities is still considering. PSE&G contends the project will fortify the system against many of the outages that occurred during Hurricane Sandy and other recent storms. Opponents of the request contend the project is too costly and would only prevent a fraction of the outages, while making ratepayers foot the bill.
• PSE&G says Hurricane Sandy's wrath prompted utility's $4 billion infrastructure overhaul plan
• PSE&G reports higher 3rd-quarter earnings a year after Sandy left 2.1M without power
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