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.

New Jersey electric customers have more rate options than ever before.  The four local utilities – PSE&G, JCP&L, Atlantic City Electric, Rockland Electric – all have default electric rates that are higher than competitive market rates for power.

Despite this opportunity for savings, only 3.3% (as of September 2010) of all New Jersey customers have switched away from default service on to lower rate structures.  Larger businesses have been quicker to switch as the Board of Public Utilities in New Jersey reports about 72% of the states largest customers (those using above 10o0 KW demand) have contracted out with alternative suppliers.

The consumers who can really benefit from electricity deregulation in NJ are the small business and residential customers.  The switch rate with these classes are extremely low.  Though New Jersey has had a deregulated electricity market for several years now, there has only been real savings opportunities available over the last 20 months or so.  NJ Electricity choice is still a new idea for many NJ residents.

What people in New Jersey should understand is that their local utility company is no longer responsible for their supply charges.  The utility companies, such as PSE&G and JCP&L, want their customers to shop for lower electric rates.  They do not profit off of the default service that they offer to customers who do not shop.  The utility companies are now soley in the business of delivering power.

We have found that most small businesses in New Jersey can expect to see savings between 10-20% if they take the time to shop the electricity market and compare prices.  Residential customers, depending on their utility, can see savings between 5-15%.

ElectricityWatch recommends customers look for electric prices that are fixed.
PSEG Rates

JCPL Rates

Atlantic City Electric Rates

Residential electricity customers in the PSE&G utility area are finding significant savings on the electric bills.  The summer of 2010 is the first summer in New Jersey where there has been real electricity choice for residential consumers.  Though power choices are still limited compared to some other deregulated states (Texas, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, New York, Maryland) New Jersey customers have found that energy deregulation can be a good when attempting to have lower electricity bills.

The lowest option for PSEG residential customers can always be found on our electricity prices page.  We have seen rates as low as  10.75 compared to the PSEG default price to compare rate of 12.24 for the summer months of June through September.  Bigger households have to pay even more as their rates rise to 13.21 cents per kilowatt hour after the consume 600 KWH every month, which is about how much a 1 bedroom apartment would use in the summer.  These results in savings between 12-19%.

Here are the current rates we found (updated daily):

PSE&G residential rates will be about 12.27 from October 2010 to May 2011.  What most people don’t realize is that even after you switch electric companies and start paying a lower rate, you remain a PSEG customer as they continue to monitor the lines and wires for the electricity and the billing component.  So at the end of the day, the only thing that changes is that you pay a lower New Jersey electric bill.

Though participation in the New Jersey electric choice program has been slow when considering the significant savings available, things have started to pick up as more people start to realize the electric savings potential.

Jersey Central Power and Light (JCPL) electricity customers are seeing some of the lowest electric rates since the utility deregulated back in 2003.

The basic generation service, the JCPL default rate, will be $0.110285 per kilowatt hour from October 1, 2010 through May 31, 2011 for small and medium businesses.  From now through the end of September it will be even higher at $0.115462.  Solid 10-15% exist for these businesses who shop and compare commercial electric companies.

Meanwhile, New Jersey residential electric customers in JCPL are paying high default rates of $0.1172 a kilowatt hour.  For the first time since 2003, these electricity customers can save money by finding a lower electric rate through a competitive electric company.

Residential and business customers can find their current default electric rates on their JCPL bill at the top next to BGS Energy Charges and BGS Transmission Charges.  The combination of these two charges make up the total price to compare default rate.  When you choose a lower priced electric provider, their low electric rate will take the place of those two charges.

Depending on the electricity company, you will continue to receive one monthly electric bill from JCPL with the lower rate, or you might receive a bill from the electricity company for the supply charges and one from JCPL for the delivery charges.  Either way, you will save money as long as you sign for a electric rate that is lower than the JCPL BGS default electric rate.

Commercial and industrial electric rates change on a daily basis.  For a list of low commercial electric rates in New Jersey email us with the request and we will email you back a list of electricity companies and their electric rates.

Lower electric rates are available for Atlantic City Electric (ACE) customers who are on the utility’s default price to compare rate.  Commercial and industrial electric customers can save a modest 10-15% off their current rates by signing a fixed contract rate with a competitive alternative electric provider.

Depending on the rate class and usage patterns, ACE business customers are currently paying a default rate between 10.77-12.15 cents per KWh http://www.atlanticcityelectric.com/business/choice/nj/compare/.

Competitive rates in the region are being locked in for 12-36 month terms at rates as low as 9.7 cents per KWh.  Shorter term contracts are also available for those consumers who want to save money right away in the summer, but wish to wait and see where the long term default rates are heading.

South New Jersey electric customers can save money on their electricity bills by getting off of the high default rates and shopping the competitive market.

Contact us for more information about electricity deregulation.

On June 1, new summer default rates went into effect for all New Jersey customer s being serviced by JCPL (Jersey Central Power & Light) who are still on the utility’s price to compare default rate.

While residential competitive electric providers remain limited in the state, there are roughly two dozen competitive electric suppliers offering lower rates for commercial and industrial customers compared to the JCP&L default price to compare rate.  Business customers in the GS rate class will pay a rate of $0.115462 from June through September of 2010, and then pay $0.110205 from October 2010 through May 2011.  Current fixed competitive electric rates in the area are in the low $0.10s per KWh resulting in savings for most businesses between 8-14%.

Default rates in JCPL are derived from auctions the utility performs in previous years for the current year.  Due to lower natural gas prices, current market rates for electricity are lower than the current default rates resulting in saving opportunities for businesses.

For more inf0rmation on Jersey Central Power and Light competitive rates, please leave a comment or send an email.

Electric rates will decrease for the second year in a row for New Jersey electric consumers who are on default service (i.e. have not shopped for a competitive supplier).  However, despite the decrease, greater savings are still available for these default service commercial and industrial customers if they decide to shop the competitive market for lower rates.

The default rates will lower after the four major New Jersey Utilities (PSEG, JCPL, ACE, Rockland Electric) completed their auction for basic generation service. 

Even after the default service reduced rates take effect on June 1, business consumers can expect to save anywhere from 10-30%  more off of those rates by contracting out with an alternative supplier.

Basic Generations Service (BGS) rates for PSEG electric customers have been established for the new year.  BGS rates are the default rate for customers serviced by the utility PSEG who have not shopped for a competitive electricity supplier.  The new rates will go into effect on June 1.

PSEG default rates for the supply portion of the bill are divided into a summer term that begins June 1 and extends through the end of September, and the non summer term that begins October 1 and extends through the end of May 2011.  The default BGS rates include the entire Supply section on customer PSEG bills.  This is often an area of confusion to business customers who look into the benefits of competitive rate shopping.  The total price to compare takes into account the generation rate as well as capacity charges.  When customers just compare the per KWh rate on their current bill they are not getting an apples-to-apples comparison.

In order to realize the actual price to compare, PSEG business customers should take their total supply charge and divide it by the total amount of KWh they consumed for the bill period.  This will result in a KWh rate that can be compared to offers from competitive suppliers.  This price to compare will include state taxes of 7%.  So if the competive rate does not include taxes (as will be stated on the contract) multiply the rate by 1.07 to get the true comparison rate.

The bottom line is that there are competitive electricity suppliers available for business customers serviced by PSEG.  Depending on the size of the customer and the type of electricity product chosen (fixed, variable, green energy, long term), savings can be as much as 25%.

Update: We found some great providers offering a variable and fixed rates in the PSEG electric area, see below:

Electricity customers in New Jersey who are being serviced by the Rockland Electric Company (also known as Orange and Rockland) have seen there basic generation charges increase dramatically in 2010.  These basic generation charges are Rockland Electric Company customer’s price to compare; they can shop the deregulated market for a competitive price that is lower than the price to compare rate that Rockland Electric is offering.

Rockland Electric customers are seeing savings in the competitive market for the first time, so the concept of electricity deregulation is new to most consumers in that area.  The savings for Rockland Electric business customers can be large.  Some businesses in Northern New Jersey have seen their electric price to compare jump above 15 cents per KWh.  Competitive New Jersey electric rates are being offered that are below 10 cents per KWh.  The majority of North Jersey business customers in the Rockland Electric territory are seeing savings between 15 and 30%.

If you are in the Rockland Electric Company service territory and would like additional information on alternative suppliers please email or leave a comment.

Save 18% off of the Rockland default rate of $0.1215 and get a Visa Prepaid gift card.