Folsom, NJ - South Jersey Gas, subsidiary of South Jersey Industries (NYSE:SJI), filed a petition today with the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities to extend an initiative established in 2009 that encourages energy efficiency, and in turn, strengthens the local economy.

SJG proposes to continue four of its existing energy efficiency programs and to add a social marketing and education program to run through June 2018, totaling approximately $56 million of investments that are incremental to the company's Conservation Incentive Program offerings. Since the implementation of SJG's energy efficiency programs in 2009, customers have received more than $29 million in grants, rebates and no interest loans to become more energy efficient.

"This filing is directly in line with our previous strategies and continues to work in concert with available offers provided through the New Jersey Clean Energy Program," said Jeffrey E. DuBois, president of SJG. "Each of these proposed programs provides a broad range of incentives designed to allow residential, commercial and industrial customers to lower their energy bills through participation. And, with the introduction of a Social Marketing and Education Program through the OPOWER utility software platform, participating customers will have access to information that enables them to make informed decisions on their energy usage and results in increased conservation efforts," added DuBois.

The programs are structured as follows:

• The first residential program is designed to motivate customers to take advantage of the New Jersey Home Performance with Energy Star® Program by providing financing to assist in obtaining whole house energy efficiency, comfort and savings. 
• The second residential program is designed to motivate customers with existing HVAC systems in need of immediate replacement to install qualifying high efficiency heating, cooling, and water heating equipment. SJG will offer significant financing incentives or grants to those who participate. To receive incentives for either of the two residential programs, customers must complete a Home Performance with Energy Star® Home Energy Assessment, provided by accredited energy auditors.
• The two commercial and industrial programs that SJG seeks to continue provide attractive financing packages that complement the offerings of the New Jersey Clean Energy Program's Smart Start, Pay for Performance, Custom Measures, and Direct Install programs. With these incentives, SJG will continue to provide the financing that commercial and industrial customers need to implement energy reduction projects. 
• The final program, introduced through the OPOWER utility software platform, focuses on marketing and education designed to encourage residential customers to reduce their energy consumption, and their environmental footprint, by comparing them to other similar homeowners through customized energy reports. The program will target a community of approximately 170,000 residential customers based on their energy usage.

The cost of the energy efficiency programs is expected to result in an initial increase of $0.006485 per therm. This represents an increase of $0.65 or less than half of one percent on an average residential customer's 100-therm monthly heating bill.

Forward-Looking Statement
This news release contains forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of historical fact included in this press release should be considered forward-looking statements made in good faith by the Company and are intended to qualify for the safe harbor from liability established by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. When used in this press release words such as "anticipate", "believe", "expect", "estimate", "forecast", "goal", "intend", "objective", "plan", "project", "seek", "strategy" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the following: general economic conditions on an international, national, state and local level; weather conditions in our marketing areas; changes in commodity costs; the timing of new projects coming online; changes in the availability of natural gas; "non-routine" or "extraordinary" disruptions in our distribution system; regulatory, legislative and court decisions; competition; the availability and cost of capital; costs and effects of legal proceedings and environmental liabilities; the failure of customers, suppliers or business partners to fulfill their contractual obligations; and changes in business strategies. SJI assumes no duty to update these statements should actual events differ from expectations.

About South Jersey Industries
South Jersey Industries (NYSE: SJI), an energy services holding company based in Folsom, NJ, operates its business through two primary subsidiaries. South Jersey Gas, one of the nation's fastest growing natural gas utilities, delivers clean, efficient natural gas and promotes energy efficiency to approximately 365,000 customers in southern New Jersey. SJI's non-regulated businesses, under South Jersey Energy Solutions, promote efficiency, clean technology and renewable energy by developing, owning and operating on-site energy production facilities - including Combined Heat and Power, Solar, and District Heating and Cooling projects; acquiring and marketing natural gas and electricity for retail customers; providing wholesale commodity marketing and risk management services; and offering HVAC and other energy-efficiency related services.http://www.sjindustries.com