ASSEMBLY, No. 288

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel

PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 1996 SESSION

By Assemblyman ROONEY

An Act concerning gas and electric public utilities and supplementing Title 48 of the Revised Statutes.

    Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

    1. a. The Board of Regulatory Commissioners, in fixing just and reasonable rates for the provision of gas or electricity by a gas or electric public utility, shall not allow in those rates any cross-subsidization through unreasonable allocation of the cost of non-tariff products and services incurred by the public utility in connection with:

    (1) the sale or installation by the utility of an energy consuming product;

    (2) the provision by the utility of an energy consuming product free of charge; or

    (3) the provision by the utility of any maintenance related to an energy consuming product.

    b. Nothing in this section shall be deemed to prohibit the reasonable allocation of the costs of energy conservation programs that provide a rebate or other incentive to a ratepayer who purchases an energy efficient product.

    2. a. The board shall require each gas or electric utility to submit a detailed annual report that discloses all costs and expenses associated with the cost allocation of non-tariff products and services offered by the utility in connection with:

    (1) the sale or installation by the utility of an energy consuming product;

    (2) the provision by the utility of an energy consuming product free of charge; and

    (3) the provision by the utility of any maintenance related to an energy consuming product.

    b. The board shall make available to the public summary copies of the non-proprietary data in the annual reports required pursuant to subsection a. of this section.

    3. The board shall adopt, pursuant to the provisions of the "Administrative Procedure Act," P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.), rules and regulations to implement the provisions of this act.

    4. This act shall take effect 180 days after enactment, but the Board of Regulatory Commissioners may take such anticipatory administrative action in advance as shall be necessary for the implementation of the act.

STATEMENT

    This bill would require the Board of Regulatory Commissioners when setting rates for a gas or electric utility not to allow cross-subsidization through unreasonable cost allocation of the cost of the free provision, sale or installation of an energy consuming product, or of the provision of any service related to an energy consuming product. The bill would allow the reasonable allocation of the costs of energy conservation programs that provide a rebate or other incentive to a ratepayer who purchases an energy efficient product.

    The bill further requires gas and electric utilities to submit detailed annual reports disclosing all costs and expenses associated with the cost allocation of non-tariff products and services offered by the utilities in connection with the free provision, sale or installation of an energy consuming product, or with the provision of any service related to an energy consuming product. The board is required to make summary copies of the report available to the public, and to adopt rules and regulations implementing the provisions of the act.

Prevents ratepayer cross-subsidization of certain non-tariff utility activities through unreasonable cost allocation.