Public Service Electric and Gas Company
Encyclopedia
Public Service Enterprise Group , commonly known as PSEG, and originally known as the Public Service Corporation of New Jersey and then as the Public Service Electric and Gas Company, is a regulated, publicly owned gas and electric utility company in the state of New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...

, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. It is New Jersey's oldest and largest investor owned utility. The company's headquarters is in Newark
Newark, New Jersey
Newark is the largest city in the American state of New Jersey, and the seat of Essex County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Newark had a population of 277,140, maintaining its status as the largest municipality in New Jersey. It is the 68th largest city in the U.S...

.

History

The Public Service Corporation was formed in 1903 by amalgamating more than 400 gas, electric and transportation companies in New Jersey. It was re-named Public Service Electric and Gas Company in 1948. The transportation operations of today's PSE&G were purchased by New Jersey in 1980, leaving PSE&G exclusively in the utility business. In 1985, The Board of Directors created the Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG) as a holding company, and formed Enterprise Diversified Holdings Inc. (EDHI) in 1989 (now PSEG Energy Holdings), to begin consolidation of its unregulated businesses.

In June 2005, the acquisition of PSEG by Exelon
Exelon
Exelon Corporation is an electricity generating and distributing company headquartered in the Chase Tower in the Chicago Loop area of Chicago. It was created in October, 2000 by the merger of PECO Energy Company and Unicom, of Philadelphia and Chicago respectively. Unicom owned Commonwealth Edison...

, a Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

 and Philadelphia based utility conglomerate, was approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is the United States federal agency with jurisdiction over interstate electricity sales, wholesale electric rates, hydroelectric licensing, natural gas pricing, and oil pipeline rates...

; however, the deal was never consummated and eventually dissolved after it became clear that it would not win state regulatory approval.

In 2009, PSEG announced plans to install solar panels on 200,000 utility poles in its service area in a project costing $773 million, the largest such project in the world. The Solar 4 All project intends to increase the capacity for renewable energy in New Jersey and is expected to be completed in 2013. In addition, PSEG is building four solar farms in Edison
Edison, New Jersey
Edison Township is a township in Middlesex County, New Jersey. What is now Edison Township was originally incorporated as Raritan Township by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 17, 1870, from portions of both Piscataway Township and Woodbridge Township...

, Hamilton
Hamilton Township, Mercer County, New Jersey
Hamilton Township is a Township in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2010 Census, the township had a total population of 88,464...

, Linden
Linden, New Jersey
- Local government :, the Mayor of Linden is . The former longtime Mayor of Linden is 82-year-old John T. Gregorio, who served as mayor of Linden for 30, nonconsecutive years and was repeatedly tagged with scandal during his mayoral career, including one felony conviction, later pardoned, which...

, and Trenton
Trenton, New Jersey
Trenton is the capital of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Trenton had a population of 84,913...

.

Operations

PSEG currently serves nearly three quarters of New Jersey's population in a service area consisting of a 2600 square miles (6,734 km²) diagonal corridor across the state from Bergen
Bergen County, New Jersey
Bergen County is the most populous county of the state of New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, its population was 905,116. The county is part of the New York City Metropolitan Area. Its county seat is Hackensack...

 to Gloucester
Gloucester County, New Jersey
Gloucester County is a county located in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2010 Census, the population was 288,288. Its county seat is Woodbury....

 Counties. PSE&G is the largest provider of gas and electric service, servicing 1.7 million gas customers and 2.1 million electric customers in more than 300 urban, suburban and rural communities, including New Jersey 's six largest cities.

Environmental record

In 2001, PSEG received The Walter B. Jones Memorial and NOAA Excellence Awards in Coastal and Ocean Resource Management in the category of Excellence in Business Leadership for its Estuary Enhancement Program.

Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst
University of Massachusetts Amherst
The University of Massachusetts Amherst is a public research and land-grant university in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States and the flagship of the University of Massachusetts system...

 have identified PSEG as the 48th-largest corporate producer of air pollution
Air pollution
Air pollution is the introduction of chemicals, particulate matter, or biological materials that cause harm or discomfort to humans or other living organisms, or cause damage to the natural environment or built environment, into the atmosphere....

 in the United States, with roughly five million pounds of toxic chemicals released annually into the air.
Major pollutants indicated by the study include manganese
Manganese
Manganese is a chemical element, designated by the symbol Mn. It has the atomic number 25. It is found as a free element in nature , and in many minerals...

, chromium
Chromium
Chromium is a chemical element which has the symbol Cr and atomic number 24. It is the first element in Group 6. It is a steely-gray, lustrous, hard metal that takes a high polish and has a high melting point. It is also odorless, tasteless, and malleable...

 and nickel
Nickel
Nickel is a chemical element with the chemical symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel belongs to the transition metals and is hard and ductile...

 compounds; sulfuric
Sulfuric acid
Sulfuric acid is a strong mineral acid with the molecular formula . Its historical name is oil of vitriol. Pure sulfuric acid is a highly corrosive, colorless, viscous liquid. The salts of sulfuric acid are called sulfates...

 and hydrochloric acid
Hydrochloric acid
Hydrochloric acid is a solution of hydrogen chloride in water, that is a highly corrosive, strong mineral acid with many industrial uses. It is found naturally in gastric acid....

.

External links

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