An Overview of NJ Energy Competition Act
Due to “Electric Discount and Energy Competition Act”, which among other things allows competition in the power generation portion of the electric industry, New Jersey electricity customers are able to choose a company that will supply them with electric power. Before this change in the law there were four local utility companies responsible for generating electricity, transmitting the power to all regions, and distributing the power to the individual homes and businesses. But now due to the change in law, the generation sector of electricity has been deregulated so the initial four incumbent providers are not the only producers of energy. The incumbent utilites are still in charge of the transmission and distribution (lines and wires), which remains regulated by the state.
What this means to the customer is that they now have a choice in how the electricity they use is being created. New Jersey has created something they are calling a Power Scorecard. This Power Scorecard provides information on the electricity service choices available to residential consumers in New Jersey. The Power Scorecard provides a list of the electricity product choices, environmental ratings for each product, the price of the product, and information on how to contact the product supplier to arrange to purchase that product.
This was designed to help customers see first the options that are available, and second the effect that these different products have on the environment. There are eight different categories that the Scorecard has and for the renewable energy products. Then once you decide on which would be best for you there is also pricing and contact information for you to inquire with the supplier of each product.
