New Jersey agency pushes for clearer contracts from third-party energy suppliers

The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities is seeking to provide greater transparency and more clarity on what prices customers can expect if customers choose to go with an alternative energy supplier (third-party supplier).

NJ Spotlight
Contact: Tom Johnson

BPU looks to shield consumers from  sticker shock when electric and gas bills are far higher than they would have paid to their utility.

The state wants to tighten regulations on how alternative energy suppliers market to customers shopping for cheaper prices on their gas and electric bills, an issue that’s been drawing scrutiny since this past winter when some ratepayers were socked with huge, unexpected increases.

BPU looks to shield consumers from  sticker shock when electric and gas bills are far higher than they would have paid to their utility.

In a stakeholders meeting at the headquarters of the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities in Trenton, the industry generally supported calls for greater transparency and more clarity on what prices customers can expect if they choose to go with an alternative (or third-party) energy supplier, rather than their incumbent utility.

The issue is important because since New Jersey broke up its gas and electric monopolies, the state has seen only modest gains in the number of residential customers shopping for better deals. Deregulation advocates had argued that ending the monopolies would lead to increased competition and lower prices for consumers.

Even those efforts could be derailed by allegations filed by the state attorney general’s office that unscrupulous alternative suppliers defrauded customers by telling them they would save money if they switched energy suppliers. In some cases, consumers ended up paying several hundred dollars more a month than if they had stayed with their utility, according to the civil complaints filed by the state.

Those predicted savings didn’t happen for thousands of customers, largely because the unusually cold winter spiked prices for both electricity and natural gas, with some suppliers passing those costs on to consumers, many of whom did not realize they were at risk of paying more if market conditions changed.

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