New Jersey electricity rates & utilities
We track 4 New Jersey utilities and the rate cases at the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities. You can shop your electricity supplier here — so the bill audit applies.
How electricity rates work in New Jersey
New Jersey utilities deliver your electricity and are regulated by the Board of Public Utilities (BPU). The generation portion is competitive — you can choose a third-party supplier or stay on the default.
The default rate is Basic Generation Service (BGS), which is set each year through a statewide auction and typically changes on June 1. If you've signed up with a supplier, your price is set by that contract instead.
So a 'rate increase' in New Jersey is usually the annual BGS change, a distribution rate case at the BPU, or a supplier contract rolling off a teaser rate.
What you can do: Compare your supplier's rate to your utility's Basic Generation Service. If you're paying more, you can drop the supplier and return to BGS — usually within 1–2 billing cycles.
Who's who on your New Jersey electric bill
Four different players decide what you pay. Here's each one, in plain English:
Your utility — the "distributor"
The company that owns the poles and wires and physically delivers power to your home — the name on your bill (in New Jersey, one of the utilities listed below, like Atlantic City Electric). This part is a regulated monopoly: only it delivers in your area, and the NJ BPU sets what it can charge for delivery. You can't shop the delivery part.
Generation — the "supply"
The electricity itself (also called supply or generation). You can buy it from your utility's default rate — the Basic Generation Service — or from a competing third-party supplier. It's the identical electricity either way; only the price differs.
PJM — the "grid operator"
The independent operator that runs the regional high-voltage grid for New Jersey and 12 other states. It's like air-traffic control for electricity — it keeps enough power flowing across the whole region. Its wholesale costs flow through your utility into your bill. (More below.)
The NJ BPU — the "regulator"
The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities is the state agency that reviews and approves utility rate increases. When a utility wants to charge more, it files a "rate case" here — which is exactly what we track.
Putting it together: when you turn on a light in New Jersey, the electricity was produced by power plants, routed across the region by PJM, and delivered to your house over Atlantic City Electric's wires (your distributor). Your bill charges you for both the supply (the electricity) and the delivery (the wires). If you signed up with a third-party supplier, they set the supply price; if not, you pay your utility's Basic Generation Service. The NJ BPU approves the delivery rates and oversees the default supply rate.
What is "PJM" and its "capacity market"? (plain English)
PJM is the independent operator that runs the high-voltage power grid for 13 states and Washington, D.C. — including yours. Think of it as air-traffic control for electricity: it doesn't own power plants or your wires, but it makes sure enough electricity is flowing across the whole region every second of the day. The wholesale costs PJM sets get passed through your utility into your bill.
The capacity market is a separate, once-a-year auction PJM runs. Instead of paying for electricity you use, it pays power plants just to promise they'll be ready on the few hottest or coldest days when demand peaks. That promise is called "capacity." It's like paying a backup generator a retainer to stay on standby — you pay even in months you never need it.
Why it matters now: when PJM expects demand to jump, those standby payments spike. Demand is jumping largely because of data centers, and PJM's recent capacity auctions hit record highs three times in a row. Utilities pass that cost straight to customers — which is a big reason bills across all five states we cover are rising. Sources: PJM; PJM Independent Market Monitor (Monitoring Analytics).
New Jersey electricity prices over time
The average New Jersey residential electricity price went from 15.85¢/kWh in 2019 to 22.63¢/kWh in 2025 — up 43%.
New Jersey utilities we cover
- Atlantic City Electric
Basic Generation Service
- Jersey Central Power & Light (JCP&L)
Basic Generation Service · 16.48¢/kWh
- PSE&G
Basic Generation Service · 19.31¢/kWh
- Rockland Electric
Basic Generation Service
Coverage note: We track New Jersey's four electric distribution companies. We don't cover small municipal electric utilities, which set their own rates.
Where to find your supply rate on a New Jersey bill
Your utility's standard rate is the Basic Generation Service. On your bill, find the supply / generation rate in ¢/kWh and compare it to that — if a supplier charges more, you're overpaying. Here's the exact line to look for:
Where is this on my bill?
On your bill, find the supply rate in ¢/kWh. Your utility's standard rate is the “Basic Generation Service.” If your supplier charges more than that, you're overpaying.
Rate cases & increases
No active rate cases in our tracker for New Jersey right now. We monitor the NJ BPU dockets — get an alert when one is filed.