NJPIRG's Abigail Caplovitz

Keeping A Lid On Utility Bills

This year, consumers across New Jersey struggled to pay increasing energy costs. Increases in the cost of natural gas hit residents particularly hard, costing New Jerseyans an average of $28 more a month. In the face of this crisis, NJPIRG has been working for the past year and a half to stop Exelon’s proposed takeover of PSEG, the largest utility takeover in the country.

If the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) allows Exelon to take over PSEG, Exelon, a Chicago-based company, would be an energy giant with enough market power to raise electric rates across the state. Exelon’s control of the regional electricity market could cost New Jersey consumers as much as $2.3 billion annually, an increase of $45 a month on the average electric bill. Exelon’s poor reliability, quality-of-service and safety record doesn’t bode well for New Jersey consumers.

Since the takeover was announced in December 2004, NJPIRG has worked to protect New Jersey consumers. We intervened in litigation, we reached out to our members and generated nearly 5,000 phone calls and e-mail messages to BPU President Jeanne Fox and Governor Corzine, and we released “Consolidation of Power,” a report detailing the reasons why the BPU should reject the takeover.

This spring, NJPIRG and about a dozen other parties, including the BPU staff and the New Jersey Public Advocate, presented expert testimony opposing the takeover. And this summer, we worked with a coalition of consumer, business and labor groups, urging the state Legislature to oppose the deal. Assemblyman Joe Cryan took the lead and by the end of June, a bi-partisan majority of the state Assembly supported a resolution to reject the takeover.

Despite this public opposition to the deal, Exelon is still pressuring the BPU to agree to a settlement and approve the takeover. But we’ll continue to do everything we can to make sure the BPU stands up for the public and tells Exelon to go back to Chicago.