The NJ BPU scheduled a hearing in September to figure out how utilities are going to by some of the electricity that will be powering homes, small businesses and even bigger commercial sites when June 1, 2027 rolls in.
It set up as a virtual legislative-type hearing for September 22 at 11 am under BPU Docket No. ER26040105 and will focus on a Basic Generation Service proposal filed jointly by Atlantic City Electric, JCP&L, PSE&G and Rockland Electric on July 1.
Basic Generation Service (BGS) is the electricity supply provided to customers who haven’t selected a separate third-party energy supplier. The utilities purchase that electricity through a process overseen by the BPU and pass the supply costs through to customers without earning a profit on the electricity itself.
The July 27 notice doesn’t approve a new rate; it’s more of a chance for utilities, consumer advocates, energy companies and other interested parties to comment on the proposal before the Board makes its decision later this year.
NJ uses a staggered procurement system for most residential and small-commercial BGS customers. Instead of buying all the electricity for those customers in a single year, the State generally nabs portions of the supply over three separate annual auctions – intended to minimize the impact of sudden changes in wholesale electricity prices.
Previous BPU orders approved the procurement format used to secure two-thirds of the electricity required for residential and small-commercial customers during the period beginning June 1, 2027 and ending May 31, 2028. This current proceeding will determine how the utilities get the final one-third and address the annual supply requirements for larger commercial and industrial customers participating in the Commercial and Industrial Energy Pricing category.
Under the current schedule, the BPU expects to decide the procurement proposal in November. Utility compliance filings and a decision on those filings are expected in December, followed by the actual procurement process in February 2027.
The BGS procurement process helps decide the electricity supply portion of the bills paid by most New Jersey residents and many businesses.
Those costs are influenced by wholesale electricity prices, generating capacity costs, renewable-energy requirements and administrative expenses.
The BPU said the winning prices in the 2026 Basic Generation Service auction increased slightly from the previous year, driven largely by higher wholesale energy prices and costs in the PJM capacity market.
PJM operates the regional electric grid and wholesale power markets covering New Jersey, 12 other states and the District of Columbia. Its capacity market pays power suppliers to commit to being available when electricity demand is high.
Capacity prices have become a growing concern as electricity demand increases while new power-generation projects face lengthy development and interconnection timelines.
This review also comes as NJ is grappling with rapidly expanding data-center development and its impact on the grid and prices, with the BPU indicating there has been unprecedented electricity-demand growth from data centers, which has contributed to high electricity rates.
In May, the Governor announced a statewide data-center plan that would require large facilities to contribute toward the energy generation and infrastructure needed to support their operations. Legislation signed in July creates a new ratepayer class and rate structure for data centers, ensuring they pay for their own energy use and associated grid infrastructure, and includes incentivizing these data centers to bring in cheap, clean power to the grid, requiring them to cut back demand before residential ratepayers are impacted when the grid gets strained.
The BGS proceeding is separate from those data-center initiatives but increasing regional demand, generating capacity and wholesale market prices are relevant to the prices suppliers offer when New Jersey purchases electricity for customers.
The legislative-type hearing will be held virtually on Tuesday, September 22 at 11 a.m.
Initial comments on the proposals are due September 4.
Anyone wishing to speak must contact BPU staff member Stacy Peterson by September 15 at:
Prepared comments may be submitted to the same email address.
Final written comments on the procurement proposals are due October 9. The BPU said those final comments should respond to issues raised in earlier comments, during the September hearing or through questions issued by Board staff. They should not introduce entirely new issues.
Written comments should reference:
BPU Docket No. ER26040105
Comments may also be submitted to:
Sherri L. Lewis
Secretary of the Board
New Jersey Board of Public Utilities
44 South Clinton Avenue, First Floor
Post Office Box 350
Trenton, New Jersey 08625-0350
Phone: 609-292-1599
Email: board.secretary@bpu.nj.gov
The September 22 hearing can be viewed online at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0X4LW4G0Xpc
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