NJ Power Company Plans $3.9 Billion Upgrade

If only they had done it before Sandy struck

Public Service Enterprise Group Inc., owner of the largest power supplier in New Jersey, plans to spend $3.9 billion over the next 10 years to strengthen infrastructure against what the utility termed "increasingly frequent severe weather conditions."

The company has been hit with high costs to repair damage to its Public Service Electric & Gas Co. unit following superstorm Sandy and a subsequent nor'easter, and on Wednesday said it would ask state regulators to approve funding for about two-thirds of the anticipated cost during the first five years of the project.

"Sandy was a defining event for all of us," said Ralph Izzo, chairman and chief executive of Public Service Enterprise Group. "The state's entire energy infrastructure needs to be rethought in light of weather conditions that many predict will continue to occur."