The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities has approved the results of the latest annual electricity auction for Basic Generation Service.

The auction, held with an assortment of different energy venders, essentially locks in the price that residential and small-to-medium business customers in the Garden State will pay for electricity for a 12-month period starting June 1.

According to Joe Fiordaliso, the president of the BPU, prices will basically hold steady. In a few cases, they will go down.

For the average PSE&G customer, whose bill hypothetically is $115, the bill will go to $115.35.

The average JCP&L customer whose bill is $90.81 will see it go down to $88.78.

The average Atlantic City Electric customer whose bill is $114.26 will get a new bill of $115.16.

The average Rockland Electric bill will drop 59 cents a month.

This latest electricity auction secured commitments for about 7,800 megawatts of power, which is about a third of the total power supplied by PSE&G, JCP&L, Atlantic City Electric and Rockland Electric every year.

The price and commitment for the other two thirds of the power was set in 2017 and last year in separate auctions.

Fiordaliso said the electricity auction process works well.

“It’s a way to lock in prices for the consumers so they have an idea of what the expenditures on their part are going to be over that period of time.”

So what does the future hold for energy prices?

Fiordaliso said as the state transitions to more wind and solar power in the coming decades, prices are expected to continue to rise gradually for a period of time, but eventually they will fall.

In the meantime, he pointed out there will be significant economic benefits in terms of job creation and tax ratables from increased renewable energy.

He pointed out the cost of installing a solar energy system in your home has dropped 50 percent from 10 years ago and “the economic benefits continue to increase.”

"The fastest job growth in New Jersey today is in solar. We already have over 7,000 jobs in solar statewide. Eventually the prices for renewable come down, but the economic benefits remain.”

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