New Jersey Natural Gas Ranks as One of Most Trusted Utility Brands in Nation

According to a national study released yesterday by Cogent Reports, a division of Market Strategies International, New Jersey Natural Gas (NJNG) is one of the most trusted utility brands in the nation.

“A great brand isn’t built through expensive advertising campaigns; in our case, it comes from delivering solid results to each of our stakeholders, year after year,” said Laurence M. Downes, chairman and CEO of New Jersey Natural Gas. “We are so grateful our customers know they can depend on us for safe, reliable and affordably priced service, as well as value our efforts to communicate effectively with them, and serve as a committed corporate partner with our communities.”

Cogent Reports released a list of the 52 utilities categorized as most trusted brands in each of 12 regional and industry segments. NJNG is the most trusted natural gas utility in the eastern United States and receives the highest overall brand trust score (710 points out of a possible 1,000 points) of all utilities in the region, including electric and combination utility providers. NJNG’s score was the fourth highest of all natural gas utilities, and eighth highest of all utilities, in the nation.

The 2014 Utility Trusted Brand and Customer Engagement study is based on a survey of 19,000 residential utility customers served by the 125 largest natural gas, electric and combination utilities in the United States. It is the first study for the utility industry to provide a holistic view of the complex relationship consumers have with their utility providers by including measurements for brand trust along with operational satisfaction and product experience.

Cogent Reports’ Brand Trust scores are developed by combining company ratings on 28 separate measures in six areas: concern for customers, company reputation, credibility, dedication, environmental performance, and community involvement. Trust factors are then combined with operational satisfaction and product experience measures to generate a single overall Engaged Customer Relationship measure for each utility. The sample design uses U.S. Census data and strict quotas to ensure a demographically balanced sample of each evaluated utility’s customers based on age, gender, income, race and ethnicity.

More information about the report may be found at: http://www.marketstrategies.com/en/news/.

About New Jersey Resources

New Jersey Resources (NYSE:NJR) is a Fortune 1000 company that provides safe and reliable natural gas and clean energy services, including transportation, distribution and asset management. With annual revenues in excess of $3 billion, NJR is comprised of five key businesses:

• New Jersey Natural Gas is NJR’s principal subsidiary that operates and maintains 7,000 miles of natural gas transportation and distribution infrastructure to serve half a million customers in New Jersey’s Monmouth, Ocean and parts of Morris and Middlesex counties.
• NJR Clean Energy Ventures invests in, owns and operates solar and onshore wind projects with a total capacity in excess of 75 megawatts, providing residential and commercial customers with low-carbon solutions.
• NJR Energy Services manages a diversified portfolio of natural gas transportation and storage assets and provides physical natural gas services and customized energy solutions to its customers across North America.
• NJR Midstream serves customers from local distributors and producers to electric generators and wholesale marketers through its equity ownership in a natural gas storage facility and a transportation pipeline, both of which are Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, or FERC-regulated investments.
• NJR Home Services provides heating, central air conditioning, standby generators, solar and other indoor and outdoor comfort products to residential homes and businesses throughout New Jersey and serves approximately 120,000 service contract customers.

NJR and its more than 900 employees are committed to helping customers save energy and money by promoting conservation and encouraging efficiency through Conserve to Preserve® and initiatives such as The SAVEGREEN Project® and The Sunlight Advantage®.

For more information about NJR:
Visit www.njresources.com.
Follow us on Twitter @NJNaturalGas.
“Like” us on facebook.com/NewJerseyNaturalGas.
Download our free NJR investor relations app for iPad and iPhone.