Company History

The Public Service Corporation was formed in 1903, by amalgamating more than 400 gas, electric and transportation companies in New Jersey. Thomas McCarter was named the Corporation's first president and held the position until 1939.

During the 1920s, there was a national trend of consolidating and merging smaller utilities into large utility-holding companies. Public Service joined this trend, and by the 1930s had become part of a huge corporation which owned more than 100 utility subsidiaries throughout the Eastern, Central and Southern United States.

Internally, Public Service consolidated its gas and electric interests into Public Service Electric and Gas, and its transportation interests into Public Service Coordinated Transport (later Transport of New Jersey). Concerns about the concentration of economic power resulted in federal and state actions requiring the breakup of utilities. In 1943, Public Service once again became a stand-alone company, and was renamed Public Service Electric and Gas Company (PSE&G) in 1948.

Transportation was a major component of Public Service's early offerings, and at its inception, included ferry and trolley services, as well as elevators for transporting horse carts up the Palisades. In 1916, Public Service provided more than 451 million passenger trips on its trolleys alone. In 1928, Public Service Railway Company and Public Service Transportation Company merged to form Public Service Coordinated Transport, which dominated trolley, and, later, bus travel in New Jersey.

In 1934, Public Service engineers designed the first diesel-electric bus, and in 1937 went on to operate the first diesel-electric bus fleet (of 27 vehicles) in the world. The Company's involvement in transportation ended in 1980, when PSE&G sold its transportation system to the State of New Jersey.

In 1985, The Board of Directors created Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG) as a holding company, and in 1989 formed Enterprise Diversified Holdings Inc. (EDHI), now PSEG Energy Holdings, to begin consolidation of its unregulated businesses. PSEG Energy Holding's main subsidiaries are PSEG Global and PSEG Resources. In 2000, PSE&G was split into PSE&G, a regulated gas and electric delivery company in New Jersey and PSEG Power, an unregulated US power generation company.

Today, PSEG is a publicly traded diversified energy company (NYSE: PEG), with 2012 annual revenues of $9.8 billion. PSEG was ranked 240 on the Fortune 500 list for 2012.

PSE&G is highly regarded for its reliable service. In 2013, PSE&G received an award from the Edison Electric Institute for outstanding restoration efforts after Superstorm Sandy. The award acknowledged PSE&G for restoring power to its nearly 1.9 million customers impacted by Sandy, as well as for its outstanding storm management practices, such as communicating effectively with the public. This is the second year industry peers have honored PSE&G with this award; recognizing the utility each time for its efforts to restore service promptly after a storm or natural disaster. Previously, PSE&G received the award for its response efforts to Hurricane Irene and the subsequent flood that occurred in 2011.

In 2012, PSE&G was also named America's Most Reliable Electric Utility for the fifth time in eight years. Additionally, the utility won the ReliabilityOne Award as the most reliable electric utility in the Mid-Atlantic region, for the eleventh consecutive year. All utilities operating an electric delivery network in North America are eligible for consideration. The PA Consulting Group, a national industry benchmarking group, considers over 150 utilities a year for this award that honors excellence in delivering reliable electrical energy.

As electric and gas markets are deregulated by state and national governments, PSEG is committed to identifying and seizing opportunities in energy services and related fields, while maintaining its high level of gas and electric service to its traditional residential and business customers.