South Jersey Industries traces its roots back to 1910 when Atlantic City Gas and Water Company was merged into the Atlantic City Gas Company, owned by Clarence H. Geist. This was the first in a series of acquisitions that would eventually create South Jersey Industries’ subsidiary, South Jersey Gas. Geist acquired Peoples Gas Company in 1922 and a number of smaller companies over the next five years.

By 1930, he was recognized as the largest holder of utility stocks in the country. That year, Peoples and Atlantic City Gas Company were sold to Public Service Corporation of New Jersey, who operated them until 1948. In 1948, the Securities and Exchange Commission ordered Public Service, which owned all of South Jersey Gas' stock, to distribute the common stock to its shareholders. Just before the two companies became independent of Public Service, Peoples merged into Atlantic City Gas Company.

The company was named South Jersey Gas and its new headquarters was located in Atlantic City. During the 1950s, the company acquired gas distribution properties in Cumberland and Salem counties. The Cape May County distribution facilities were purchased from New Jersey Natural Gas in 1983.

An important event occurred in 1969 when company management and the board of directors decided to enable company shareholders to participate in other businesses from the South Jersey Gas might be barred as a regulated public utility. To accomplish this, South Jersey Industries was incorporated as a holding company and in 1970 South Jersey Gas became its primary subsidiary.

Early in 1970, ground was broken in Folsom for SJI’s new corporate headquarters. Later that year SJI purchased Jesse S. Morie & Son, Inc., a sand and gravel mining company in Cumberland County. Also in 1970, SJI entered the oil heating business by purchasing three fuel oil distribution companies and housing them under a new subsidiary, South Jersey Fuel. SJI dedicated its new headquarters in 1971

In 1973, SJI created a subsidiary, South Jersey Exploration to explore for natural gas with its partner, a Stone & Webster subsidiary. SJI also purchased Delaware Valley Industrial Gases in 1973. Delaware Valley manufactured acetylene gas and serviced the propane industry testing, repairing and reconditioning gas cylinders.

As the decade of the ‘70s ended, more and more homeowners were demanding natural gas due to increasing supplies and an attractive price compared with other fuels.

In the mid-80’s South Jersey Energy was created to take advantage of new business opportunities in the natural gas industry resulting from deregulation. And in 1989, SJI purchased the assets of five affiliated utility construction and general contracting firms forming a new subsidiary, R&T Group, Inc.

By the late 90s SJI had sold or discontinued operations of Morie Company, SJ Fuel, SJ Exploration and R&T Group and updated its strategic plan to maximize long-term shareholder value in the face of regulatory and competitive environments. A decision was made by management and the board of directors to focus the company’s activities exclusively on energy and energy services.

With South Jersey Gas as a solid foundation and South Jersey Energy as a viable un-regulated business, SJI began expanding its un-regulated businesses to include the formation of South Jersey Resources Group in 1996 to provide natural gas storage, peaking services and transportation capacity for wholesale customers. Marina Energy was formed in 2000 to develop on-site energy production facilities with Borgata Casino Hotel & Spa as its first customer. In 2004 SJI transferred SJG’s appliance service business to a newly formed subsidiary, South Jersey Energy Service Plus, which improved the company’s ability to address customer needs and adapt to changing market conditions.

After growing these un-regulated businesses from entrepreneurial start-ups to self-sustaining business lines, SJI created South Jersey Energy Solutions as a holding company to consolidate the un-regulated companies to better facilitate the next stage of their development and maximize profitability.

The strategies developed a decade ago to realize our vision have produced strong earnings growth and shareholder returns. Since applying these strategies in 1998, we have more than doubled our earnings per share. The years to come are certain to be exciting and challenging as SJI and its subsidiaries enter into new projects, products and investments that grow our company and advance our energy strategy.