By Ted Caddell

Public Service Enterprise Group reported fourth-quarter net income of $476 million ($0.94/share), more than double the $200 million ($0.39/share) for the same quarter in 2013. The company posted net income of $1.518 billion ($2.99/share) for 2014, compared to $1.243 billion ($2.45/share) a year earlier.

CEO Ralph Izzo attributed the increased earnings to its investments in its regulated business, Public Service Electric & Gas. “As a result of an extended capital program, earnings from our regulated company grew to represent 52% of our consolidated operating earnings, as PSE&G’s investment in transmission has grown to represent 39% of its $11.4 billon rate base.”

Izzo highlighted several aspects of the investment in the regulated business, much of it in response to the pounding New Jersey, and PSE&G in particular, took during Hurricane Sandy. “We received approval to invest $1.2 billion in Energy Strong, a program that will improve the resiliency of our electric and gas distribution systems,” he said during a conference call.

The company is updating and replacing about 250 miles of its natural gas lines, as well as making upgrades to its electric transmission network. “We completed construction of two, 230-kV transmission lines during the year, as well as the New Jersey portion of the 500-kV Susquehanna-Roseland line,” he said.

Izzo acknowledged that PSEG Power’s bid to build a new 475-MW combined-cycle plant in Connecticut didn’t clear ISO-NE’s recent capacity auction, but he said “we haven’t abandoned this work and we’ll invest when the markets support its development.” (See Exelon, LS Power Join CPV in Adding New England Capacity.)