Under the Energy Choice program, you can choose who your supplier is. I don't know how this exactly works but here is a list from the PSE&G website.

Electric
http://www.pseg.com/customer/energy/pdf/electric_marketers.pdf

Gas
http://www.pseg.com/customer/energy/pdf/gas_marketers.pdf

Let us know if you look into this because I think a lot of us are curious.

Any one else have info on the Energy Choice program?

I checked my bills just now. I've shown an increase but that is only because we actually have used more gas and electric. The rate per therm and kWh haven't really changed that much for me. *knock on wood*

PSE&G posts their rates on their website although reading a tariff schedule is like reading Aramaic to me.

I did come across the following regarding the scheduled drop:

PSE&G cutting rates again
Thursday, February 19, 2009
BY KEVIN G. DEMARRAIS
NorthJersey.com
STAFF WRITER

For the second time this winter, gas rates are going down for Public Service Electric and Gas Co. customers.

The Newark-based utility announced today that residential gas bills will decrease by 7 percent, effective Mar. 1, for a total reduction of about 12 percent since Jan. 1. Even so, rates remain 2.3 percent higher than a year ago.

Public Service originally asked for a 20 percent increase when natural gas prices were soaring last summer, but the company scaled that back when commodity prices started to drop in the fall and was granted a 14.3 percent increase by the board of Public Utilities, effective Oct. 1.

But wholesale prices have continued to drop, leading to a 5 percent rate cut on Jan. 1 and the latest 7 percent reduction.

Under the new rates, a residential gas heating customer who uses 200 therms in a winter month, or 1,210 therms per year, would see a decrease of $136 on an annual basis. This customer?s monthly winter bill would be $289, or $22.54 less.

The reductions reflect lower wholesale costs for natural gas. PSE&G makes no profit on the sale of natural gas, passing along what it pays to customers. If the price of natural gas increases, the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities allows the state?s utilities to recover those higher costs, but the rules also call for price reductions when wholesale prices fall.

?The wholesale price of natural gas has continued to decline due to the economic slowdown and market conditions,? said Dave Daly, PSE&G?s vice president of energy acquisition and technology. ?This is good news for our gas customers, many of whom are struggling in this difficult economy.?

The latest decrease will more than offset a proposed increase in gas bills as part of a program to stimulate New Jersey?s economy by accelerating infrastructure investments, Daly said.

In January, PSE&G announced a capital infrastructure program to help boost the state?s economy and create jobs. If approved by the BPU, the program would raise gas bills by less than 1 percent.

E-mail: demarrais@northjersey.com

I copied the following from one of my previous postings...hopefully this helps some of you. The ONLY possible recourse is to document everything (temp you keep house at, when you were away, etc) and start with the letter writing. And DO NOT pay your bill. That's the big whammy. Just pay the minimum and the parts you are not contesting. They will send you many threatening letters trying to scare you into paying (like, we are shutting off your stuff today, etc)...but state law is that as long as you have a case on file with the NJ Board of Public Utilities and Public Service Commission, they cannot shut off anything until it is resolved. Eventually (this will take months), the state people will call you and they will mediate with PSEG and the PSEG will try to negotiate with you on what you are willing to pay. I got everything credited that I asked for. Honestly, this sounds like a lot of work, but it is not...write one letter to state and one to PSEG telling them you are writing to state...then sit back and wait...here is my story below:

PSE&G is the most corrupt monopoly out there.

We lived in a one bedroom apartment for the past two years...we paid only electric and cooking gas...landlord paid all heat - hot water, etc. Our electric bills were normal for 1.5 years. Then, in the last six months of us living there...we started getting gas bills for 150 and 200 dollars per month. For cooking gas. Our gas bills used to be under 20.

We've fought and fought and have sent letters and blah blah and they keep threatening to shut off our service. But since the situation is under investigation with the Public Utilities Company PSE&G CANNOT actually shut off anything until a solution is presented.

We cannot get it touch with anyone at PSE&G who has half a brain.

They are a terrible company and this just proves what they try to do...overcharge people...people who have no recourse.

___________________________________________
update!

after one year of fighting with PSEG - sending letters to the state and calling them incessantly...we got a credit of $400 for the wrongful charges! I would say "woo hoo" but really..."boo hoo"...b/c this wasted MUCH precious time. anyway, it's good that it finally got resolved.

BUT -

another apartment we are renting out to someone received a gas/electric bill of $1,600 for the month of August! Since they were set up on automatic bill-pay - this amount was automatically taken out of their account and even caused them to bounce some checks. wonderful.

after calling PSEG - they said it was most likely a mistake. no $%&# Sherlock. anyhoo - they credited the account. But didn't send the money back. After 4 phone calls - they money will supposedly be sent back within two weeks. (3 months later and the money is not seen still).

_______________________________________
two months, four phone calls later, check is finally received.

Make sure you keep as many of your blinds or shades open as you can during the day to allow sunlight in.This actually helps.You can buy weather stripping to put under or along drafty windows.Also PSE&G has a program that will send you a representative to check your home and see where you are losing heat.From what I know they do charge for that exam but deduct it from price of any repairs needed if you choose to make them.Hope this helps.

There is a coal-fired plant ten minutes from downtown Jersey City. Unbuilt pipelines shouldn't affect the price of gas from one month or season to the next. Yes, better access to supply would help in the long run, but it's not like someone took a pipeline away between December and January and wholesale natural gas prices FELL considerably during that period.

The gas is high due to demand, a while back, was discussion of building another pipeline from the west to bring natural gas. The proposal was stopped by New York lawmakers. Our gas is high because New Jersey use natural gas to make electricity, other states burn coal to make electricity. One way to bring down gas prices is to build that pipeline and to use wind energy to make electricity. The wind energy would be make from turbines off the Atlantic Ocean. Many people are against that idea.
By the way PSEG has announced a 7% reduction starting March. They always bring up the cost before winter and drop the prices for spring.
Yvonne

I am assuming you guys use gas for heating? My monthly rent includes central heating and my gas bill is never more than 10-20bucks...

When i lived in newport, 400+ electric bills were common because everything is electric. Everyone bought those energy efficient oil heaters, and it helped a lot because it uses minimal electricity to keep the oil hot after it's heated. It just takes a while for the thing to warm up. Maybe try that....

I got my utility bill in for January and it was double of what I paid in December. My coworker body he received double bill too. If anyone has any information on this one, please share.

Quote:
Laundrymats are charging more for dryer use in the sense that you get only 8 minutes instead of 10. Reason given: gas costs are higher.

From a customer service perspective, PSE&G has actually been quite good in my experience. Of course, next to Comcast you could say the same about PATH.

The earlier comment about falling natural gas prices is dead on. Gas is about half what it was in the fall and not much more than a third of where it traded last summer. And population concentration should work in our favor, not against us.

Maybe they made large forward purchases back in the summer or fall and are passing along these high costs, which are being exacerbated by the colder-than-recent-winters weather we've had this year.

I don't think more windows help with utility bills. Most windows are cheap and prone to bad drafts. Even the good ones don't insulate as well as a solid wall. The sun is much weaker in the wintertime when you actually want the sun to warm things up.

People may pay up for the windows if it's a great view, but I don't see it being helpful from a utility minimization standpoint...

They should charge less...I have huge windows all over my apartment...More light means more sun in the summer (even with thermal curtains). The outside walls are brick, and it's seriously like a brick oven in there. Once the heat's in, it's an inferno all summer. And, in the winter - no matter what I do, I cannot keep that draft out...Historic District - Marvin Windows....My PSE&G bill is out of hand....

Quote:
I know of someone who charges more rent to their tenants because they have lots of window footage in the apartment being rented. The theory is that more window=more light = lower electric bill = more rent money.

part of the problem is that NJ electric rates are almost 70% higher than the national average according to this site:
http://www.neo.ne.gov/statshtml/115.htm

My guess is nat gas prices are similarly high relative to the national average. I guess the concentration of population in the NE states causes the prices to be high.

This is another reason RE pricing and rental pricing is likely to come down now that people are factoring in utility costs to the monthly nut...

It could be that they couldn't get in to do a meter reading. When this occurs PSE&G will do an estimate based on the last reading withing the last 12 months. Usually the estimate is lower than expected so when you get your actual bill it is much higher.

I'm so happy to see this thread! Our bill has been outrageous these past few months. We understand the necessary increase in our gas charges from the summer months due to the chilly winter temps. However, I cannot understand why our electric bill this winter has been double what it costs in the summer when we're running the central AC almost 24/7! I keep calling PSE&G to complain that there is something wrong with our meter. We'll turn everything off in our miniscule 550 sq feet apartment and go out in the hall and watch our meter still go round and round!

So I scheduled 2 appointments. They only work M-F between the hours of 9-2, or so they say! I had to take 2 days off of work and both times they didn't come by 2 and I had to leave to get into the office. When I called to tell them I was leaving they said that the technician was still coming, he should be there around 4:30. Nope sorry, not hanging around! Not only that but it takes them 3 weeks to return your phone call to schedule these appointments!

PSE&G has the worst service I have ever encountered. Are there no alternatives? It should not take double the amount of electric for our 550sq ft apartment then a 3000 sq ft home!!

My PSEG bill hovers between $50 and $60 for gas and electric....Ah the joys of living in a building with central heat.

Wow, I see I'm not alone in this. I've been doing everything to conserve energy thinking that perhaps we were using our resources excessively after my bill last month arrived at $462.00. It's apparent that for whatever reason PSEG is gouging us all...

I've been suprised, too, especially considering the actual cost to PSE&G of purchasing natural gas is way down this year and supplies are pretty plentiful (U.S. natural gas inventories are currently running above normal). I wonder if some rate increase previously approved by the state has kicked in - not that they would tell you on the bill. I've always been flummoxed trying to make heads or tails out of that bill. As for switching, I don't know of alternative providers around here, and I've read multiple studies of various markets that found the cost savings from switching is pretty minimal.

Quote:

It's time to join the Snuggie cult!
https://www.getsnuggie.com/flare/next? ... 10521&OVKWID=179665214021

To the OP, the high cost of your bill doesn't surprise me. The past 2 months I have paid over $100 in gas costs and my 1BR apt is barely over 550 sq ft. I travel for business so I am away many days per month (so I turn the heat way down), and when I'm home I never turn the thermostat above 68. This has been an unusually cold winter so that certainly doesn't help matters.

There is a thread somewhere on this issue. If I'm not mistaken we still get burned from PSE&G for the cost to carry it into the household. It's all very confusing. I will try to find the thread tomorrow.

I am so glad you posted this. I just got my bill and it's more than double the month before. I thought it was some kind of mistake but apparently not.

I had some HVAC issues a few weeks ago, so I am chalking it up to that. If it's as high next month, I am going to have to go Little House on the Prairie around here and dress in layers and blankies.

Are there any PSEG alternatives?

Our bills are OUTRAGEOUS. $450+ dollars gas and electric...bulk of the charges going to gas. We are 2 people in a 2 level apartment, basement and first floor. I'm astounded by the charges (yes, actuals). We keep the house at 65 and sometimes bump it to 68. Doesn't seem like an unreasonable usage.

And they say electric is going to go up because of deregulation.
I'm fed up with this and wondering if there are alternatives. Crooks!