------------------------------ OMB APPROVAL ------------------------------ OMB Number: 3235-0362 Expires: January 31, 2005 Estimated average burden hours per response.........1.0 ------------------------------ UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION Washington, DC 20549 FORM 5 ANNUAL STATEMENT OF CHANGES IN BENEFICIAL OWNERSHIP Filed pursuant to Section 16(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, Section 17(a) of the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 or Section 30(h) of the Investment Company Act of 1940 |_| Check box if no longer subject to Section 16. Form 4 or Form 5 obligations may continue. See Instruction 1(b). |_| Form 3 Holdings Reported |X| Form 4 Transactions Reported ________________________________________________________________________________ 1. Name and Address of Reporting Person* Cutting John C. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (Last) (First) (Middle) 1610 Northstream Parkway -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (Street) Point Pleasant NJ 08742 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (City) (State) (Zip) ________________________________________________________________________________ 2. Issuer Name and Ticker or Trading Symbol Middlesext Water Company (MSEX) ________________________________________________________________________________ 3. I.R.S. Identification Number of Reporting Person, if an entity (Voluntary) ________________________________________________________________________________ 4. Statement for Month/Year December 31, 2002 ________________________________________________________________________________ 5. If Amendment, Date of Original (Month/Year) ________________________________________________________________________________ 6. Relationship of Reporting Person(s) to Issuer (Check all applicable) |X| Director |_| 10% Owner |_| Officer (give title below) |_| Other (specify below) ____________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________ 7. Individual or Joint/Group Filing (check applicable line) |X| Form filed by One Reporting Person |_| Form filed by More than One Reporting Person ________________________________________________________________________________ ================================================================================ Table I -- Non-Derivative Securities Acquired, Disposed of, or Beneficially Owned ================================================================================ 5. 6. 4. Amount of Owner- Securities Acquired (A) or Securities ship 2A. 3. Disposed of (D) Beneficially Form: 7. 2. Deemed Transaction (Instr. 3, 4 and 5) Owned Direct Nature of Trans- Execution Code ------------------------------- at the End (D) or Indirect 1. action Date, if (Instr. 8) (A) of Issuer's Indirect Beneficial Title of Security Date any ------------ or Fiscal Year (I) Ownership (Instr. 3) (mm/dd/yy) (mm/dd/yy) Amount (D) Price (Instr. 3 & 4) (Instr.4) (Instr.4) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Common Stock V 7,465 A 22,395 D See Explanation ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ V 600 A 1800 I See Explanation Spouse Jacklyn Cutting ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Dividend 12/31/02 V 201 A 21.06 436 I Reinvestment Spouse ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ==================================================================================================================================== * If the form is filed by more than one reporting person, see instruction 4(b)(v). FORM 5 (continued) Table II -- Derivative Securities Acquired, Disposed of, or Beneficially Owned (e.g., puts, calls, warrants, options, convertible securities) ================================================================================ 10. 9. Owner- Number ship 2. of of Conver- 5. 7. Deriv- Deriv- 11. sion Number of Title and Amount ative ative Nature or Derivative 6. of Underlying 8. Secur- Secur- of Exer- 3A. 4. Securities Date Securities Price ities ity: In- cise Deemed Trans- Acquired (A) Exercisable and (Instr. 3 and 4) of Bene- Direct direct Price 3. Execut- action or Disposed Expiration Date ---------------- Deriv- ficially (D) or Bene- 1. of Trans- ion Code of(D) (Month/Day/Year) Amount ative Owned In- ficial Title of Deriv- action Date if (Instr. (Instr. 3, ---------------- or Secur- at End direct Owner- Derivative ative Date any 8) 4 and 5) Date Expira- Number ity of Year (I) ship Security Secur- (mm/dd/ (mm/dd/ ------ ------------ Exer- tion of (Instr. (Instr. (Instr. (Instr. (Instr. 3) ity yy) yy) (A) (D) cisable Date Title Shares 5) 4) 4) 4) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ==================================================================================================================================== Explanation of Responses: Additional shares acquired as a result of three-for-two stock splits. /s/ Marion F. Reynolds, Power of Attorney for John C. Cutting January 2, 2003 --------------------------------------------- ----------------------- **Signature of Reporting Person Date ** Intentional misstatements or omissions of facts constitute Federal Criminal Violations. See 18 U.S.C. 1001 and 15 U.S.C. 78ff(a). Note: File three copies of this Form, one of which must be manually signed. If space provided is insufficient, see Instruction 6 for procedure.