American Water Works and Essential Utilities have filed a settlement with New Jersey's Board of Public Utilities in the proceeding on their proposed merger. They filed the stipulation on November 2, and it was posted to the board's website as of November 5. All parties to the proceeding entered it, including the board's staff and the New Jersey Division of Rate Counsel. The board has yet to review or approve it. Under the merger, Essential Utilities would become a wholly owned subsidiary of American Water.

It adds New Jersey to the settlements already reached in Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Texas. Settlements are not all alike. The Pennsylvania one, filed on September 15, was non-unanimous: the Consumer Advocate and other parties signed, but at least one party did not join. It goes first to administrative law judges for a recommended decision before the commission reviews it. New Jersey's has every party to the proceeding behind it.

New Jersey is one of four states still pending, alongside California, Illinois and Indiana. Kentucky, Ohio and Virginia have approved the merger. Essential Utilities' recent earnings call described the New Jersey talks as constructive, so the filing fits that earlier read and looks like steady progress rather than a turning point.

The companies still target a close by the end of the first quarter of 2027.

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