Electricity prices will lower in Connecticut for CL&P residential customers who remain on generation default service.  Despite the lower prices, Connecticut Light and Power customers can still save even more by choosing an electric rate offer from an third party electricity supplier.

Over the last year electric rates for residential customers were on average 15% lower than Connecticut Light and Power default rates.  Despite this only 32.5 percent of customers who are serviced by the utility CL&P had chosen an alternative electric company.

Much of the hesitation remains on the side of confusion of consumers.  Many consumers wish to “stay loyal” to CL&P, however based on the Connecticut Electric Choice Act that statement would not make sense.  CL&P does not profit off of their Generation Service Charge, which is default service for electricity customers who have not chosen an alternative electric offer.  They now only profit off of the regulated rates and charges of the delivery portion of the bill.

Connecticut Light and Power customers can also find attractive introductory bonuses in addition to lower electric rates.

The variable rate will give you the option of leaving at anytime.  Though we feel it is better to lock in a low fixed rate, if you are looking to get your feet wet with electricity choice, the variable rate can offer a good starting point.

Residential customers who are serviced by Atlantic City Electric can currently save up to 22.5% on their electric bills. This is a result of the New Jersey Electricity Choice and Competition Act that went into effect in 2003.

Savings above 10% are available for the first time for Atlantic City Electric customers because retail electric rates in the competitive market are lower than current Atlantic City Electric default rates, also called Basic Generation Service (BGS) rates.

When an Atlantic City Electric customer chooses an alternative electric supplier, they will continue to receive their bill from Atlantic City Electric, who remains the customer’s electricity delivery company and who is still responsible for the maintenance and management of the lines and wires throughout the southern New Jersey Electricity grid.

See offers from competitive New Jersey Electricity Companies Below:

PSEG electricity customers can save money on the supply portion of their electric bill by buying their power from an alternative supplier.  PSEG default electric rates, labeled Basic Generation Service (BGS) by the state of New Jersey, are currently higher than some competitive offers.

The delivery portion of the bill remains regulated and serviced by PSE&G.  Some electric companies offer dual billing in which you receive one bill from PSEG Energy for the delivery portion, and a separate bill for the supply charges from the alternative electricity company.

The more popular choice is to receive single, or consolidated, billing where you get one bill per month from PSEG.  On the PSEG electric bill the delivery charges would remain the same, and the supply charges would be that of the alternative electric supplier who you sign a contract with.

PSE&G posts the total “Price to Compare” at the bottom of the electric bill even after a customer has chosen an alternative electric supplier to provide electricity.  By doing this, a customer can see how much money they are actually saving every month.

PSEG electricity customers on default service will pay $0.11481 per KWh from now until the end of May 2011.  They will then pay about $0.1200 (depending on their total usage) in the summer months of June through September.

PSEG customers can save money by choosing:

Seven years after New Jersey officially deregulated their electricity market, residences of the state are finally seeing competitive electric rates that can save them real dollars off of their monthly electric bill.

If you are a customer of PSE&G, JCP&L, Rockland Electric, or Atlantic City Electric, savings can be found by shopping the competitive electricity market for lower prices.  Alternative electric suppliers had been slow to enter the New Jersey market for a variety of reasons.  However, a significant drop in wholesale electric prices combined with high utility default rates, have given electricity companies a great reason to get licensed by the state and market their services and rates to New Jersey customers.

Residential customers can choose between a variable electric rate that can fluctuate month to month but gives the customer the option to leave the service at any time, or a fixed electric rate that locks in your rate for a specific period of time, usually anywhere from 4-24 months.

Here are the residential electricity rates available in New Jersey at this time:
PSEG Rates

JCPL Rates

Atlantic City Electric Rates

Some of the companies are running introductory offers with cashback bonuses.

For a low variable rate with a $50 Cashback Bonus introductory offer, click here.
Low fixed rate offers with a Visa Prepaid card up to $75 can be found here

In most cases, including the offers above, even after you switch electric suppliers you will still get your monthly electric bill from your utility company.  The utility companies (PSEG, JCPL, Rockland, Atlantic City Electric) are still regulated lines and wires company and are responsible for billing residential electric customers.  They only provide a default electric rate to residential customers because they are required to do so by the state under the terms of the New Jersey Competition and Electric Choice Bill.

This article pertains to commercial and industrial electricity customers in deregulated markets where Integrys Energy is active, including but not limited to Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Delaware, and New York.

Integrys Energy has offered electricity contracts with misleading rate quotes to commercial and industrial customers.  If you are deciding to use Integrys Energy as your supplier it is extremely important that you either review the contract thoroughly, or work with a consultant or energy broker who is equipped to do so.

As a business electricity customer, here is what you need to know:

Every deregulated electricity state divides their bill into two basic parts, the regulated delivery part and the competitive supply part.  Depending on who is your local regulated utility will depend on how these charges are viewed on your bill.  Sometimes, like in the case of PSEG in New Jersey, the two parts are clearly divided.  Other times, like in the case of PPL in Pennsylvania, the charges are not so clearly separated.

The competitive supply portion of the bill can further be separated into several components (energy charge, transmission, capacity, line losses, etc.).  When you receive a competitive rate offer from an energy supplier, the rate should include every component of the competitive supply portion.  However, what some suppliers do is give a quote that only includes a portion, and then passes on the rest of the charges in a subsection on the bill.

So for example, you might get an offer from Electric Supplier (A) for a rate of 8 cents that includes every aspect of the competitive supply part.  Then Electric Supplier (B) might offer you a rate of 7 cents that only includes part, say the energy charge, of the competitive supply part.  The remaining part of the competitive supply part (transmission, capacity, line losses) will show up on the bill in a different section, and all of a sudden 7 cents is really 9.5 cents.

Integrys Energy practices the method of Electric Supplier (B) from the example above.  Recently I reviewed a contract that they presented to a customer.  After reviewing the contract I found that the customer would have paid exactly double to what they thought they would have paid.  This is because Integrys divided the competive supply part into two sections, and gave both sections the same exact rate.  This was extremely misleading as the implementation of the exact rate for two different sections was designed to make it appear as if everything would be charged the single rate once.  But after taking a closer look, I was able to see that there would in fact be two separate charges.

To summarize the above paragraph, had the customer signed they would have paid:

6 cents per KWh for (energy commodity)

6 cents per KWH for (capacity, transmission, line losses)

12 cents total

The sales person representing Integrys presented the rate as 6 cents.  The customer thought that the 6 cents was a great offer compared to the 8 cents offer they were getting from another legitimate supplier (the 8 cents offer was found to include the entire portion of the competitive supply part).  In reality the 8 cents should have been compared to 12 cents, and not 6 cents.

People making electricity decisions for businesses need to be aware of these deceitful practices.

A simple way to do this is to email the sales person and ask them:  Does the rate include energy, capacity, transmission, line losses, and all other components of the utility price to compare?

Anything less than a “yes” means that there will be some surprises.

On January 1, 2011 electricity customers of the utility Connecticut Light and Power (CL&P) who are on default generation service will see their rates drop from the 2010 prices.  Residential electric users who are still on default service will see their rates drop from $0.11051 to $0.0942 and small businesses will see a new rate of $0.10188 from the previous rate of $0.11723.

The lower rates are a result of the wholesale electric and gas markets dropping over the last year.  CL&P buys their power for their default customers on intervals.  A portion of the default rates were bought when wholesale prices were higher than they are today.  This means that electricity customers in Connecticut can still get an even lower rate than the new 2011 CLP default rates.

MX Energy is currently offering a 6 month rate of $0.0899 for residential customers.

Connecticut Commercial electric rates below $0.095 can be found here.

So far 32% of CL&P residential customers have switched off of default service and are using a competitive electric supplier.  54% of small businesses in the area have found more competitive electric offers.

Electricity customers being serviced by the utility PECO energy in southeast Pennsylvania have started to shop the competitive electric market for low electric rates.

On January 1 the electric rates that the utility charges will be lifted after being fixed since 1998.  The majority of businesses will see an increase on their electric bills.  PECO Energy business electric rates will be between 9.37 to 9.57 cents per KWh depending on the size of the business.  These commercial electric customers will be able to find lower priced electricity by comparing the rates of alternative electric suppliers.

The alternative electric suppliers will offer competitive rates to replace the PECO price to compare rate.  In most cases, depending on the alternative electric supplier, businesses will continue to receive their electric bill from PECO energy.  PECO still serves at the regulated utility for southeast Pennsylvania customers.

Competitive Commercial electricity rates in PECO can save customers between 7-15% off their monthly bill.  Larger commercial and industrial customers can save even more.

Current PECO Competitive Commercial Rates (updated daily):