New Jersey opened its electricity industry to competition in 1999. Each of the four electric utilities (PSE&G, Jersey Central Power & Light, Atlantic City Electric and Rockland Electric) now offer customers the chance to save money by shopping for the supply portion of their electric bill.
The utilities sold off their power plants, and now only own the transmission and distribution wires, while also providing "backstop" power to customers who do not shop for electricity. With the move to competition, New Jersey utilities have separated their service into two parts:
• Regulated distribution of power, which is still only provided by the utility, and
• Supply of the electric commodity, which is open to competition.
Customers can choose to receive their electric supply from their utility, or an alternate energy provider.
Customers who do not choose an alternative energy provider are served on each utility's Basic Generation Service (BGS). The price for Basic Generation Service is determined annually through auctions held by the utilities.
For large customers above 750 kW, called the Commercial and Industrial Energy Pricing or CIEP class, the BGS price is set at hourly prices in the wholesale PJM market. These prices can be extremely volatile, so most large customers choose an alternate (or third-party) energy provider for price stability.
Customers under 750 kW are known as the BGS Fixed Pricing Class, and receive a flat, annual rate from the auction, although it may be seasonally adjusted.
Customers who choose an alternate energy provider still have their power delivered to them by their local utility, and contact their utility for all outage reporting. Customers can choose to receive either a single bill from their utility for their delivery service and energy supply service, or can receive two bills, one from each company.
The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities has reformed the natural gas industry to give customers a chance to shop for lower natural gas rates. Since 2000, customers at PSE&G, New Jersey Natural Gas, South Jersey Gas and Elizabethtown Gas have been able to choose an alternative supplier for their natural gas supply service. Their gas supply will still be delivered by the local utility, but customers will be buying their gas supply from a new company.
A customer's natural gas bill has been separated into two parts:
- Regulated distribution of gas, which is still only provided by the utility, and
- Supply of the gas commodity, which is open to competition.
Customers can choose to receive their gas supply from their utility, or an alternate gas provider.
If customers do not shop for an alternate, or third-party, gas supplier, they receive Basic Gas Supply Service (BGSS) from their utility. For smaller users like residential customers, the Basic Gas Supply Service changes about once a year (for customers using less then 5,000 therms annually). For large business customers (using more than 5,000 therms annually), the Basic Gas Supply Service charge varies monthly, meaning customers do not have price stability. Customers can avoid wild swings in the Basic Gas Supply Service by contracting with an alternative gas supplier. Very large customers who are "interruptible" are also served on monthly rates, but these rates are different than the Basic Gas Supply Service rate.
No matter who you choose to buy energy from, your local utility will continue to deliver your gas and respond to service interruptions and outages. You will still pay your utility for these services. Depending on your area, you can choose to receive a single bill from your utility listing your utility delivery charges and supply charges, or separate bills from the utility and alternate energy provider.
For power outages and gas leaks please refer to the numbers below:
Atlantic City Electric 1-800-642-3780
Elizabethtown Gas Co 1-800-492-4009
Jersey Central Power and Light (JCP&L) 1-800-662-3115
New Jersey Natural Gas Co 1-800-221-0051
Public Service Electric and Gas (PSE&G) 1-800-436-7734
South Jersey Gas Co 1-800-582-7060