PSE&G Merger Will Cost NJ 1,000 Jobs

Sean Ryan is associate editor of Real Estate New Jersey .NEWARK-As many as 1,000 jobs in New Jersey will be cut due to the upcoming $28-billion merger of PSE&G with Chicago-based Exelon Corp., according to Ralph Izzo, president and COO of PSE&G. In total, 1,500 jobs–representing 5% of PSE&G’s current workforce–are estimated to be cut when the merger is completed in the first quarter of 2006. Half will come from PSE&G’s management, while the other half will come from nuclear facilities in Salem County.

Izzo said PSE&G is looking to shed as many jobs as possible through attrition and early retirement packages, but will most likely have to resort to layoffs as the closing date nears. “We haven’t gotten to a building-by-building-basis.” He did admit, though, that most of the administrative jobs cut “would largely come from this building,” referring to PES&G’s headquarters at 80 Park Plaza in Newark.

PSE&G houses 2,500 of its 10,500 employees in the 1.1-million-sf office. Its current lease arrangement with owner Newark Urban Renewal Investors LP runs until 2015. Plans are for the new company to continue to completely occupy the building with the trimmed staff. Also, administrative facilities in Pennsylvania will be shut down, with those jobs moving here. Cecil House, vice president of customer service, suggests that with the transported jobs from Pennsylvania, there’s an offhand chance of a net increase in staff at 80 Park Plaza. “There is a possibility we’ll have more people here, not less.”