The inaugural BINJE’s Best: Top Utility and Infrastructure Leaders list is about more than the leading individuals in the industry. It’s about the leading companies, too.
Eight companies — PSE&G, South Jersey Industries, Atlantic City Electric, JCP&L, New Jersey American Water, New Jersey Natural Gas, Hackensack Meridian Health and Veolia — will be honored.
The event, to be held Nov. 5 at Jumping Brook Country Club in Neptune, is being presented in conjunction with the New Jersey Utilities Association.
The honorees:
Top Utility Provider
PSE&G: New Jersey’s largest and oldest investor-owned utility traces its roots to 1903 and today serves 2.4 million electric and 1.9 million gas customers in nearly every town in the state. In 2024, J.D. Power ranked PSE&G as the top utility in the East for residential customer satisfaction in both electric and gas, the second time it earned that dual honor.
Outstanding Innovation in Energy Distribution
South Jersey Industries: SJI’s Linden Renewable Energy Project, a joint venture with Captona under the Catamaran Renewables banner, will turn up to 1,475 tons of food waste a day into renewable natural gas. That’s about 3,783 dekatherms a day, the energy equivalent of 30,200 gallons of gasoline, according to the company. The gas will be injected into the Elizabethtown Gas system next door. Construction began in January 2024, and the plant is slated to finish in the fourth quarter of 2026, with Veolia expected to operate it.
Green Energy Innovation Award
Atlantic City Electric: ACE has asked the Board of Public Utilities to approve a 500-megawatt battery storage system in Pittsgrove Township in Salem County. The company says it would be the largest proposed in the PJM region and could power about 400,000 homes at its peak. Built with Invenergy, the system would store surplus power when demand is low and release it on hot afternoons. ACE says that would lower costs, with no bill impact for the first five years, and help close the capacity gap that left PJM’s latest auction nearly 7 gigawatts short.
Promoting Excellence in Utility Operations
JCP&L: JCP&L’s EnergizeNJ plan, a five-year program of about $935 million, builds on its Reliability Plus program, which the company says has cut outage durations by millions of minutes. The new phase adds automation, remote control and smart-grid technology across the state’s largest service territory. It aims to shrink outages, improve safety for line workers and prepare the grid for electric vehicles and renewable energy.
Workforce Development Program of the Year
New Jersey American Water: Water UP! (short for Water Utility Pipeline) is a paid, 10-week program that gives people from underserved New Jersey communities training, hands-on experience and a path to careers in water and wastewater. Since it launched five years ago, it has helped more than 50 people explore utility careers in operations, mechanics and customer service.
Energy Efficiency Leadership Award
New Jersey Natural Gas: NJNG’s SAVEGREEN program offers customers home energy assessments, up to $6,000 in rebates, 0% financing and free weatherization for income-eligible households. It also supports hybrid heat systems and gas heat pumps. Combined with its gas supply management, the company says the program is helping deliver an 8.9% bill reduction heading into the 2026-27 winter, about $158 a year for the average residential customer.
Sustainable Energy Project of the Year
Hackensack Meridian Health: Using utilities’ energy efficiency programs, HMH has invested $116 million in energy upgrades aimed at saving 60 million kilowatt-hours of electricity and 1.5 million therms of natural gas a year, according to the health system. It has committed to 30 megawatts of on-site solar and battery storage. HMH was also the first in the nation to earn The Joint Commission’s Sustainable Healthcare Certification at four hospitals.
Sustainable Water Management Award
Veolia: Veolia North America, which provides drinking water to more than 800,000 residents in Bergen and Hudson counties, uses thermal-imaging drones and artificial intelligence to find leaks in aging pipes, some of which date back to the 1800s. The company says the approach has saved more than 3 billion gallons of treated water in recent years. AI cuts a four-hour manual inspection to one hour.
Going Above and Beyond Award
PSE&G: PSE&G’s “See Something, Say Something” safety culture showed up in the field this year. In North Jersey, an employee named Alex called police about a car whose occupants were peering into parked PSE&G vehicles, leading to arrests tied to a string of area burglaries and home invasions. In Fair Lawn, technician Greg spotted a dangerous crack in a homeowner’s flue pipe during a routine gas service job, flagged it for inspection and walked the customer through the importance of working carbon monoxide and smoke detectors.
