PSE&G Announces $1.22 Bln Settlement In Energy Strong Proceeding

(RTTNews) - Public Service Electric and Gas Company, or PSE&G, (PEG) Thursday said it has sought approval to invest $2.6 billion during five years to strengthen its electric and gas systems, with the ability to seek approval to spend an additional $1.3 billion in the following five years to complete the proposed $3.9 billion, 10-year program.

The settlement allows the company to make meaningful upgrades, including upgrading substations that were flooded in Superstorm Sandy and Hurricane Irene, replacing 250 miles of cast iron gas pipes and improve speed restoration when there are outages.

The company plans to make a number of investments including $620 million to relocate or protect 29 switching and substations that were damaged by water in recent storms, $350 million to replace and modernize 250 miles of low-pressure cast iron gas mains in or near flood areas.

Under the agreement, PSE&G will earn an authorized return on equity of 9.75 percent on the first $1 billion of investment based on an accelerated recovery mechanism.