Today PSE&G serves as the electricity delivery company for over two million residential and business energy customers living in New Jersey, including major suburbs of New York City and Philadelphia.  PSEG used to be a full functioning regulated electricity company, taking care of all aspects of electricity, generation, transmission, distribution, and customer service.  Now that New Jersey has enacted energy choice, PSE&G is now only in charge of delivering power, transmission and distribution, to their customers.

While New Jersey customers have a choice of who supplies their electricity they do not have a choice of who delivers the power to their homes and businesses.  Many consumers in the PSE&G service territory are reluctant to shop for lower electric rates because they feel loyal to PSE&G.  This is the wrong way to view electricity deregulation.  Even when a customer chooses an alternative electricity company to provide power, that person still remains a customer of PSE&G as PSE&G continues to act as the electric utility company delivery power to the property.

When a PSE&G customer receives their electric bill they will notice that the bill is divided into two sections; delivery and supply.  The delivery charges are those charged by PSEG to deliver power as well as maintain the lines and wires.  The electricity delivery charges are regulated by the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities.  The supply section of the electric bill is the part that customers have a choice and can compare electricity rates among other companies.  PSEG customers who do shop pay a default electric rate that PSEG is tasked with charging.  PSE&G does not receive a profit from these default supply charges as stipulated in the New Jersey Electricity Choice and Competition Act.

In addition to PSEG’s service of delivering power and providing default supply rates, they also continue to provide customers with their monthly electric bill.  Even after a PSEG customer chooses an alternative electricity company to provide their electric supply service, the customer will continue to receive one electric bill from PSE&G, in most cases.  It is possible that the alternative electric supplier will want to send their own invoice in which case you will receive two bill, one from PSE&G and one from the chosen supplier.  However, in most cases the competitive electricity companies choose to have their charges billed as a separate line on the PSE&G bill.

The competitive electricity company’s rate takes the place of the PSEG default supply rate, and if the chosen rate is lower than the default rate the customer saves money on their electric bill.  Here are some competitive electric rates that are currently lower than PSE&G default rates.