State of New Jersey

STATE OF NEW JERSEY
Division of The Ratepayer Advocate
31 Clinton Street, 11th Fl
P. O. Box 46005
Newark, New Jersey 07101

Press Release

For Immediate Release
Wednesday, November 26, 2003

For Further Information
Contact: Tom Rosenthal
Tel: 973-648-2690

 Ratepayer Advocate Seema M. Singh Launches
Statewide Energy Conservation and Municipal Aggregation Effort
To Help Ratepayers Conserve Energy and Cut Utility Bills

 Monroe Township -- Ratepayer Advocate Seema M. Singh today launched a comprehensive, statewide energy conservation and aggregation effort to help ratepayers lower their electric and natural gas utility bills in the face of rising energy costs.

 “Right now, conservation and aggregation are the only realistic alternatives to rising energy costs for residential ratepayers and small business customers,” said Ms. Singh as she opened a conference on energy conservation and municipal aggregation. 

 “The benefits of energy deregulation have not flowed to New Jersey’s residential and small commercial ratepayers,” Ms. Singh said.   That is why I am launching today a comprehensive, statewide energy conservation and aggregation effort.  I will go to each county and every legislative district where invited to meet ratepayers to advocate energy conservation and aggregation programs to help them deal with rising energy costs.”

 At the Ratepayer Advocate’s conference, “Get Energized: News You Can Use,” which was attended by nearly 300 representatives of municipalities, citizen organizations, and businesses as well as individual ratepayers, the Ratepayer Advocate released two new publications.

 Consumer Conservation Handbook is an easy-to-use, room-by-room guide of conservation tips to winterize and summerize the home.   “We specifically included many money-saving conservation tips that are inexpensive to implement.  In fact, many cost nothing at all.  The more of these suggestions you adopt, the more you can save,” said Ms. Singh.  The conference also featured a panel discussion on energy conservation strategies.

 The second publication, Manual for New Jersey Government Energy Aggregators, describes the procedures under the Electric Discount and Energy Competition Act (EDECA) and the significant changes signed into law by Governor James E. McGreevey earlier this year that enable local governments to form power buying pools to leverage their numbers to purchase lower-cost energy.  Aggregation was a topic of another panel discussion at the conference.

 The conference also included presentations on Understanding Your Gas and Electric Bills and a panel discussion on financial assistance programs available on the state and federal levels to help state residents pay their utility bills.  Board of Public Utilities President Jeanne Fox addressed the conference on the BPU’s renewable energy programs.

 “Four years after enactment of the Electric Discount and Energy Competition Act (EDECA), the well-intentioned goals of the legislation -- lower prices through customer choice -- have not materialized,” the Ratepayer Advocate said.  “In fact, the last few months have seen increases in both electric and natural gas prices for consumers here in New Jersey. We have neither lower prices nor competition for residential and small business customers.”

 Although Ms. Singh said she is hopeful that a robust competitive energy market will develop in the not too distant future, “something needs to be done now to help small commercial and residential customers address spiraling energy costs. With the recently approved rate increases for our state’s four electric utilities as well as the rising costs of natural gas, consumers need to take proactive steps to reduce their energy bills.”

 Ms Singh said, “As the price of energy continues to increase, energy bills are no longer just a financial burden for low- or fixed-income and financially distressed consumers.  Rising energy bills are now also affecting middle-income families because a greater portion of their household income is used for energy costs.  This impact on household income is becoming larger and larger for a greater number of our state’s residents.”

Ms. Singh continued, “As we found out from the blackout over the Fourth of July weekend down at the Jersey shore and again on a much larger scale on August 14th in the eastern United States, not only is electricity vital to maintain a minimally safe and comfortable standard of living but is also crucial to our hopes for economic prosperity for all.”

“While government, regulators, and the utilities grapple with these significant issues, average citizens do not have to wait for solutions from above.  We can start taking immediate action as individuals,” she said.  

 Ms. Singh said that the steps ratepayers can take that are within their control to meet the challenge of rising energy prices are energy conservation and aggregation.

 The Ratepayer Advocate  said The conference was a direct result of the Governor’s leadership in promoting conservation.  “In the two years that Governor James E. McGreevey has been in office, he has fulfilled one of his most important campaign promises – to change the way we do business in New Jersey by making government more efficient,” said Ms. Singh.  She cited as examples the Governor’s leadership in the development of renewable energy, clean energy, and energy efficiencies, signing legislation to make it easier to aggregate, and ensuring that there are sufficient energy assistance programs available to those in need.

The Division of the Ratepayer Advocate is an independent state agency that represents the interests of utility consumers and serves as an active participant in every case where New Jersey utilities seek changes in their rates or services.  The Ratepayer Advocate also gives consumers a voice in setting long-range energy, water, and telecommunications policy that will affect the delivery of utility services well into the future.

 Additional information on this and other matters can be found at the Division of Ratepayer Advocate’s website at http://www.rpa.state.nj.us


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Copyright (c) State of New Jersey, 1996 - 2003
New Jersey Division Of The Ratepayer Advocate
31 Clinton Street 11th Fl.
Newark, NJ 07101