Economic Development
We’re committed to generating long-term value through operations, sustainable investments, mutually beneficial partnerships and innovative relationships.
During 2021 these efforts included:
- Disbursing $100 million in base salaries to our more than 1,100 employees.
- Investing nearly $530,000 in community support.
- Spending approximately $532 million in capital expenditures.
- Purchasing more than $106 million of materials, services and equipment from minority, service-disabled veteran, women-owned businesses.
- Breaking ground on eight renewable natural gas (RNG) production facilities at a portfolio of dairy farms throughout the U-S.
- Hosting the first SJI Veterans Career Fair for veterans and their families.
- Helping thousands of students prepare for future careers with Junior Achievement of New Jersey's virtual Career Fair.
- Acquiring a third fuel cell project through Catamaran Renewables, SJI Marina Energy's joint venture with renewable industry leader Captona.
Capital Investments
The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities has approved several capital investment programs in the last ten years to modernize the South Jersey Gas and Elizabethtown Gas distribution systems.
These investments help us ensure our customers receive the service they expect and deserve.
The Accelerated Infrastructure Replacement Program (AIRP), which ended on September 30, 2021, targeted the replacement of aging cast iron and bare steel South Jersey Gas distribution infrastructure to ensure system reliability, while also reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Through the end of the program, South Jersey Gas replaced 825 miles of main and restored 41,500 services. As a result of AIRP and AIRP II, South Jersey Gas replaced almost all of the remaining bare steel and cast iron in its system.
Improvements to enhance South Jersey Gas system reliability and resiliency in coastal communities continued last year through the second phase of the Storm Hardening and Reliability Program (SHARP). This program ended on June 30, 2021. The first phase resulted in the replacement of 92 miles of main and the restoration of 11,090 services. Like the original initiative, SHARP II further enhanced and protected our infrastructure in advance of future significant weather events. Through the end of the program, SHARP II resulted in the installation of approximately 9,000 excess flow valves within the barrier island communities.
The Elizabethtown Gas Infrastructure Investment Program (IIP) – targeted at replacing vintage cast iron, bare steel, ductile iron, copper and vintage plastic mains and services – began on July 1, 2019. This $300 million, five-year program will replace approximately 250 miles of main. From 2019 through 2021, Elizabethtown Gas replaced 135 miles of main and restored approximately 15,400 services.
SJI was a partner in the proposed PennEast Pipeline, a project that was slated to provide low-cost natural gas across New Jersey and Pennsylvania. As disclosed in South Jersey Industries 2021 Annual Report, following extensive evaluation and discussion, the PennEast partners determined that further development of the project is no longer supported.
Supplier Diversity
In 2021, SJI purchased approximately $100 million in materials, services and equipment from minority, veteran, service-disabled veteran and woman-owned businesses.
At SJI, we share a passion for diversity and inclusion and view certified diverse businesses as valued partners. This guides how we do business. We believe the energy and talent each diverse supplier brings provides SJI with a competitive advantage and will help the company grow and develop. This not only benefits SJI, but also empowers the communities we serve.
Our Approach
At SJI, the Supplier Diversity Program provides:
- Opportunities to diverse, small or underutilized businesses.
- Enhanced economic growth to these businesses in the communities in which SJI does business.
- A focus on diversity within the business community, as well as within SJI.
SJI’s sourcing process strives to ensure equal and fair participation of suppliers in a competitive procurement process. The implementation of Workday Strategic Sourcing in late 2021 has allowed SJI to ensure that diverse suppliers are able to participate in more requests for proposals (RFPs) and requests for information (RFIs).
Strengthening Supplier Relationships
SJI’s continued success depends on our ability to achieve business objectives. Our suppliers are integral to those objectives. SJI’s Supplier Diversity Program looks to expand relationships with business owned by women, minorities, veterans, service-disabled veteran and LGBTQ that provide competitive prices and services. We believe that building a more diverse supplier base will help us to better serve our customers and remain competitive.
Highlights from 2021 included the following spending statistics:
- Minority-Owned Business Enterprises: $8.7 million*
- Woman-Owned Business Enterprises: $53 million
- Veteran-Owned Business Enterprises: $43.1 million
- Disabled Veteran-Owned Business Enterprises: $851 thousand
- LGBTQ-Owned Business Enterprises: increased efforts for inclusion in 2021 across the utilities.
*Minority Owned includes Asian-Indian, Asian-Pacific, Black, Hispanic and Native American.
Two-Year Supplier Diversity Trend
| Supplier Diversity and Small Business Results: |
2021 |
2020 |
| SJI |
2.5 |
2.9 |
| SJG |
1.4 |
35.3 |
| ETG |
0.036 |
49.4 |
| Category |
SJI |
SJG |
ETG |
| Minority-Owned Business Enterprise (MBE) |
$3.7 |
$3.3 |
$1.7 |
| Women-Owned Business Enterprise (WBE) |
$2.2 |
$16.2 |
$34.6 |
| Veteran-Owned Business Enterprise (VBE) |
$0* |
$28.7 |
$14.4 |
| Disabled Veteran-Owned Business Enterprise (DVBE) |
$0* |
$0.9 |
$0* |
| *No spend in these categories |
2021 Company Targets
| SJI |
SJG |
ETG |
| 10% increase |
10% increase |
10% increase |
Non-Diverse Small Business
| NA |
| *Initiating collection of SBE spend for capture and tracking in 2021. |
2021 Supplier Diversity Spend
| SJI |
SJG |
ETG |
| $7M |
$55M |
$55M |
| (1% of total spend) |
(10% of total spend) |
(26% of total spend) |
Looking Ahead
In addition to the many benefits of our Supplier Diversity Program, we will continue to grow our program and practice outreach and support for small and diverse businesses in the Tri-State area with an emphasis on New Jersey-based businesses and the communities they serve. To do this, we plan to do the following:
- Support small and diverse businesses through continued awareness and focusing on opportunities for their business growth and inclusion into SJI.
- Engage in providing business opportunities to subcontractors with our prime suppliers.
- Provide executive and internal training initiatives to further function and process awareness for supplier diversity within the organization.
- Increase advocacy through active outreach and defining qualifications for diverse businesses by providing resources on navigating the procurement process.
- Participate in RFP’s and onboarding and engagement with business units across the companies.
- Drive participation with Tier 2 supplier initiatives through regular engagement with category management and Primes.