South Jersey Industries, Inc.

NEWS RELEASE

1 South Jersey Plaza, Folsom, New Jersey 08037
Tel. (609) 561-9000 Fax (609) 561-8225 TDD ONLY 1-800-547-9085

SJI Reports Record Earnings for a Fourth Consecutive Year

        FOLSOM, N.J. -- Today, South Jersey Industries (NYSE: SJI) announced record earnings from continuing operations for the fourth consecutive year of $29.4 million or $2.44 per share for 2002. This represents a 9.5 percent increase in net income and a 6.6 percent increase in earnings per share from continuing operations over 2001. The earnings improvement resulted from record performance at both our utility and non-utility operations.

        "We are very pleased that in 2002 we once again produced record earnings," said SJI Chairman and CEO Charles Biscieglia. "Even more gratifying is that SJI delivered a 6 percent total return to our shareholders in a year where the S&P 500 and the S&P Utility averages produced double digit losses for investors. Investors clearly value the steady, predictable earnings and dividend growth that SJI provides." In November 2002, SJI announced that it was increasing its dividend for the fourth consecutive year to $1.54 per share. "We look forward to duplicating our 2002 performance in 2003, where we are again targeting 6 percent earnings per share growth," continued Biscieglia.


SJI highlights for 2002 include:

South Jersey Gas produces record performance in 2002: SJG produced net income of $23.2 million in 2002 compared with $21.5 million in 2001, a 7.9% increase. This performance came despite the loss of $2.3 million of net income directly due to the exceptionally warm weather experienced last winter. The earnings increase is attributable to:

• Customer Growth -- In 2002 SJG added 8,366 customers for a year-end total of 296,374. Our customer growth rate of 2.9% made SJG the fastest growing gas utility in New Jersey, more than doubling the national industry average. The combination of being the region's premier energy provider and our vibrant service territory enabled us to deliver our highest customer growth rate since 1990.
  
  
• Off-system Sales - Net Income from our off-system sales was $6.2 million. This function also returned an additional $8.2 million to our customers in 2002. In fact, our customers have received approximately a $50 million benefit since we implemented the sharing formula in 1993. 2003 has started with more favorable market conditions than those experienced during the exceptionally warm winter last year. Consequently, our expectations for off-system's contribution to earnings and customers in 2003 are even higher.
  
  
• Appliance Service -- Appliance service contributed net income of $1.0 million to SJG in 2002, an increase of $900,000 over last year. Performance significantly benefited from a reorganization that we completed during 2001. This refocused business increased appliance protection service plan customers by 45 percent to 59,000 and appliances under contract by 28 percent to 134,000 since December 2001. We continually look to use this marketing platform to deliver new services to our customers. A preventive maintenance program and duct cleaning services are just two examples that will contribute to earnings growth in 2003.
  
  

Non-Utility Earnings Rise 16 Percent to Another Record: Non-utility net income increased to $6.2 million compared with $5.3 million in 2001. Non-utility operations accounted for 21 percent of SJI's earnings. The improvement is attributable to:

• Retail Gas Sales - South Jersey Energy expanded net income from retail gas sales to $2.3 million, a 15 percent increase. Earnings were driven by a dramatic 126 percent increase in our customer total during 2002, well over our original expectations. The benefit of customer growth was mitigated by the extremely warm weather experienced during the first quarter. SJE had 73,000 residential customers at the end of 2002, and we expect significant additional growth in 2003.
  
  
• Energy Projects - Marina Energy brought its first project to operating status in 2002. Marina upgraded steam and chilled water production facilities at Resorts Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City. Marina also has a 20-year contract to operate those facilities. These services will expand to encompass a major expansion at Resorts targeted to open in 2004. Marina's largest project, the construction of a thermal energy plant to serve the energy needs of The Borgata Resort, also in Atlantic City, began providing construction heat to the Borgata as of November 2002. Both the Borgata and our plant are on schedule to go fully operational during the summer of 2003. This thermal plant has been scaled to handle future expansion of the Borgata, as well as the other proposed development projects in the surrounding area. Marina also recently signed an agreement to design and build a cogeneration plant along with a 3-year contract to provide operations management support to a Johnson Matthey plant in southern New Jersey. This project will also be operational in 2003. SJI is involved in a broad range of energy projects. We are just completing a fuel cell project for Stockton College and are currently in negotiations on several cogeneration projects. We also continue to successfully obtain electric light retrofitting contracts, our most recent being a large condominium project in Atlantic City.
  
  
• Wholesale Gas Sales - South Jersey Resources Group contributed $2.6 million to net income this year. SJRG markets wholesale natural gas storage, commodity and transportation in the mid-Atlantic and southern states. Just as with off-system sales, favorable market conditions at the very start of the year lead us to expect strong performance in 2003.
  
  

Other Highlights

• Strong Returns to Shareholders: Over the last three years, SJI's annualized shareholder return, including reinvested dividends, was 10 percent. That performance exceeded not only the S&P 500 Index which lost 15 percent, but the return on the S&P Utility Index which lost 9 percent as well.
  
  
• SJI Raises Dividend: SJI's Board of Directors increased the dividend for the fourth consecutive year effective December 2002 by $0.04 to an annual $1.54 per share. This increase follows three consecutive years of $0.02 per share annual dividend increases. SJI's ratio of dividend payout to earnings declined for the fourth year in a row to 62 percent. Enactment of the President's proposals to eliminate double taxation on dividends would only make an investment in SJI more attractive.
  
  
• Low Interest Rates: The company benefited from low interest rates that helped offset increases in uncollectibles, pension, health care and insurance expenses. We took measures during 2002 to control these costs, including increasing uncollectible reserves and pension contributions. These actions will provide significant benefits to SJI in 2003.

EARNINGS CONFERENCE CALL

        SJI Chairman & CEO, Charles Biscieglia, will host an open conference call and webcast to discuss the company's 2002 results today at 10:30 a.m. Eastern Time. To participate in the call, dial 1-800-915-4836 approximately 10 minutes ahead of the scheduled time. To listen to the live webcast, simply visit the South Jersey Industries website at http://www.sjindustries.com and click the webcast icon. A recorded version of the webcast will be available at SJI's website following the call. A rebroadcast of the conference call will also be available by phoning 1-800-428-6051 and entering the code: 281765

        South Jersey Industries (NYSE: SJI) is an energy services holding company for South Jersey Gas, South Jersey Energy, South Jersey Resources Group and Marina Energy. SJI's goals are to provide consistent, sustainable dividend growth and to increase its earnings per share by 6 percent annually. Visit http://www.sjindustries.com to learn more about SJI and its subsidiaries.

        This release contains forward-looking statements about SJI's financial performance. The statements are made in good faith and deemed reasonable at the date of this release. SJI assumes no responsibility to update this information. Actual results may vary and SJI encourages you to conduct your own research before making any investment decisions including a review of SJI's third quarter 2002 SEC Form 10Q for a complete discussion of risks and/or uncertainties that may cause actual results to vary.

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