ASSEMBLY, No. 1170

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel

PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 1996 SESSION

By Assemblymen COHEN and R. SMITH

An Act concerning the provision of electricity, and supplementing Title 48 of the Revised Statutes.

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

    1. The Board of Public Utilities shall adopt, pursuant to the "Administrative Procedure Act," P.L.1068, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.), rules and regulations establishing a system for the provision of electricity to New Jersey consumers which shall (1) insure that industrial, commercial, and residential electricity consumers have equal access to market priced electricity; (2) provide that utility and non-utility generators of electricity have an equal opportunity to compete to provide electricity to New Jersey consumers; (3) promote demand-side management and other energy conservation strategies and advance the State's environmental goals; and (4) stabilize the revenues collected and allocated to New Jersey municipalities pursuant to P.L.1940, c.5 (C.54:30A-49 et seq.), as amended and supplemented.

    2. This act shall take effect immediately.

STATEMENT

    This bill would provide that, as the traditional system of electric utility regulation changes to a more market oriented and competitive system, small business and residential consumers will have the same access to market-priced electricity as would large industrial users.

    The emergence of the independent energy producing industry and the enactment of the 1990 National Energy Policy Act both reflect a movement toward more competition in the formerly highly regulated electric utility industry. In the current debate over the deregulation of the electric utility industry, the focus has been on making market priced electricity available to large industrial users, primarily because such users have access to non-utility generation. Very little attention to-date has been paid to providing that small business and residential consumers would benefit from the new competitive system. This bill would remedy this deficiency.

    Specifically, this bill would direct the Board of Public Utilities to adopt rules and regulations establishing a system for the provision of electricity which would (1) insure that all consumers have equal access to market-priced electricity; (2) provide that utility and non-utility generators have an equal opportunity to compete to provide electricity to New Jersey consumers; (3) promote energy conservation strategies and the State's environmental goals; and (4) stabilize the revenues collected and allocated to New Jersey municipalities pursuant to the gross receipts and franchise tax.

Requires BPU to provide for equal access to market rates for consumers and fair competition for generators of electricity.