We reported NFE of $0.46 per share, driven by the performance of our core business, New Jersey Natural Gas.
We are also reaffirming our NFE guidance for fiscal 2021 of $1.55 to $1.65 per share and increasing our fiscal 2022 NFE guidance to $2.20 to $2.30 per share, an increase of $0.15 per share from prior guidance.
At New Jersey Natural Gas, we completed almost 90% of the Southern Reliability Link and expect to place the project into service this year.
We received approval to move forward with our infrastructure Investment Program, a 5-year, $150 million accelerated recovery program that will improve the resiliency and reliability of our natural gas infrastructure.
At Clean Energy Ventures, we acquired the 2.9 megawatt Mt. Laurel Solar Facility, which is part of our plan to invest $165 million this year.
And at NJR Energy Services we entered into an asset management agreements, which will result in contracted cash proceeds of $501 million over a 10-year period.
Under the terms of the agreements, NJRES will receive payments of $261 million over the first three years of the AMAs.
After FY 2024, NJRES will receive additional payments of approximately $34 million per year through 2031.
These transactions also allow us to increase our fiscal 2022 guidance by $0.15 per share, as we'll see on the next slide.
Turning to our NFE guidance for fiscal 2022 on slide five, we are increasing our overall guidance to a range of $2.20 to $2.30 per share.
However, our long term annual growth rate of 6% to 10% remains based off our originally communicated guidance of $2.05 to $2.15 per share, which excludes the impact of the AMAs and any other contribution from Energy Services.
Looking at the top left, we invested $89 million in New Jersey Natural Gas during the first quarter, with about 1/3 of the capex providing near real-time returns.
Despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, we added over 1,900 new customers, only slightly below the customer additions from the same period a year ago, which was pre-pandemic.
Construction on the Southern Reliability Link continues to progress, and we now have almost 90% of the project complete with an in-service date expected this year.
We added 2.9 megawatts of capacity this quarter.
And as you can see on the top right, we now have 360 megawatts of installed capacity.
We have a strong project pipeline with about $260 million worth of investments, either under contract or exclusivity that are targeted for commercial operation in fiscal 2021 and 2022.
Total invested capital at CEV this quarter was $23 million with $17 million of commercial projects and $6 million at Sunlight Advantage.
Last quarter, we announced that NJR achieved our goal of reducing our New Jersey operational emissions by 50% of 2006 levels, well ahead of schedule.
And we set a new higher target of 60% reduction by 2030.
Our new target ensures our company's goals are aligned with the state's 2050 statutory goals for emissions reduction.
Reported NFE of $44.7 million or $0.46 per share compared to NFE of $34.9 million or $0.38 per share in the first quarter of fiscal 2020.
New Jersey Natural Gas saw an NFE improvement of $5.6 million due primarily to a full quarter of higher base rates from NJNG's fiscal 2020 rate case settlement as compared to a partial quarter a year ago.
CEV was down $2, primarily due to increased O&M expenses related to project maintenance costs, especially with new projects placed in service, which is partially offset by a decrease in depreciation expense.
Energy services improved $6.6 million, primarily due to higher financial margin compared to last year, due to increased natural gas pricing spreads.
As Steve mentioned, we reaffirmed our NFE guidance of $1.55 to $1.65 per share for fiscal 2021.
On slide 11, you can see the segment contributions with our core businesses, NJNG and CEV, accounting for 80% of total NFE.
For NJNG, we expect to recognize approximately 70% of our utility gross margin in the first half of the year, in line with our historical trends.
Energy year 2023, we increased our hedge level to 75%.
Comparing year 2024, market fundamentals and pricing remained strong with SREC trading at over 85% of SACP.
And we now have 49% of our 2024 volumes hedged.
With the disproportionate amount of revenue signed to the permanent releases that occur in fiscal years 2024 and 2032.
As you can see on slide 14, we now expect our cash flows from operations to grow the CAGR of approximately 25% from fiscal 2020 to 2024 compared to our previous estimate of 20%.
And as you can see from the chart on the right, the strength of our cash flows implies that our dividends are expected to become a smaller percentage, supporting our long term dividend growth rate of 6% to 10%.
And when you have the positive impact of the AMAs, our metrics are expected to increase to the high teens in fiscal 2022, and reach about 20% by fiscal 2024.
At that time, we issued 5.3 million shares, and we entered into an equity forward to issue an additional 1.2 million shares at a later date, which we no longer need to do.
We increased our fiscal 2022 NFEPS guidance by $0.15 per share, and we expect strong cash flow to support our dividend growth.

Summary:
We are also reaffirming our NFE guidance for fiscal 2021 of $1.55 to $1.65 per share and increasing our fiscal 2022 NFE guidance to $2.20 to $2.30 per share, an increase of $0.15 per share from prior guidance.
Reported NFE of $44.7 million or $0.46 per share compared to NFE of $34.9 million or $0.38 per share in the first quarter of fiscal 2020.
As Steve mentioned, we reaffirmed our NFE guidance of $1.55 to $1.65 per share for fiscal 2021.