Governor Corzine and Elizabethtown Gas Celebrate Grand Opening of Customer Care Center

$1.75 Million Investment to Create More than 50 Jobs

UNION TOWNSHIP - Calling it another in a series of continued economic development investments in the Garden State, Governor Jon S. Corzine today lauded the opening of Elizabethtown Gas' new Customer Care Center. Located at the company's existing Green Lane facility,  the call center represents a $1.75 million investment in the local economy and will create 53 jobs for area residents. 

"The opening of this Customer Care Center means so much more than the new jobs it will create here in Union Township," Governor Corzine said.  "It means putting some of our unemployed or underemployed back to work in good, stable positions, while providing a critical service to customers.  This is exactly the type of economic development investment our state needs right now." 

Elizabethtown Gas is New Jersey's third largest natural gas company and employs 200 New Jerseyans.  The new call center, scheduled to go live in December, will serve more than 273,000 residential, commercial and industrial natural gas customers in New Jersey.  

"Our new call center will allow us to provide the best customer service possible," said Jodi Gidley, president of Elizabethtown Gas "It reinforces our commitment to the community by adding jobs to the local economy." 

In his landmark Economic Assistance and Recovery Plan, Governor Corzine called on the state's five major utility companies to invest in energy efficiency and the energy infrastructure to create jobs, improve the reliability of the State electricity system and reduce energy consumption.  The utility providers responded with two sets of programs - one to invest more than $300 million in energy efficiency through 2010, and one to expedite investments of more than $1 billion in energy infrastructure. 

The energy efficiency programs approved thus far by the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) will create more than 850 jobs to put the energy efficiency improvements in place, with more jobs being created to supply materials, equipment, and other support to the program.  As part of this effort, through its new energySMART Program Elizabethtown Gas pledged to invest $15 million into energy efficiency improvements in its territory over the next two years. 

The infrastructure programs will create approximately 1,300 new direct jobs and approximately 14,000 new indirect jobs.  

To update its infrastructure, Elizabethtown Gas is investing $60 million over the next two years for much-needed pipeline replacement and reinforcement projects that will improve the company's natural gas system.  These pipeline upgrade projects are anticipated to create approximately 65 engineering, design and construction jobs in the state.  Elizabethtown Gas has also invested more than $124 million in capital projects since its purchase by AGL Resources in 2004. 

BPU President Fox said, "Governor Corzine's economic stimulus plan has had the duel positive effect of allowing Elizabethtown Gas to go forward in rapidly improving the consistency of their customer care operation while creating new jobs that will stay right here in New Jersey." 

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