Utility Rate Increase
The state BPU has announced approval of rate increase for NJ utilities.
PSE&G will be going up 2.8%. Other areas of the state fare worse: JCP&L is up 4.5%, Atlantic City Electric is up 4.37%, and Rockland Electric is up a whopping 8.3%.
Of course, this rate increase only affects 1/3 of my electric needs. The other 2/3 (solar) cost just what they cost yesterday!
Renewable Energy Feasibility – NJ
The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities commissioned a study to determine whether or not it would be feasible to require that 20% of NJ’s energy needs be met by renewables by 2020. They received the results last week. (Press Release)
The study results show that increasing the requirement to 20% by 2020 would only result in a 3.7% increase in electric rates – which is negigible over the 16 year period. It’s important to note that this scenario assumes significant cost-reducing technology changes for wind and PV (solar) production. The report leans heavily on wind-generated power including off-shore wind installations in it’s estimates.
Interestingly, the report promises 11,700 jobs related solely to the production and installation of solar and wind technology in NJ. The report also points to reduction in natural gas prices as a result as demand for natural gas in utility production of electricity declines. And of course there are the health benefits of reducing polluting methods of producing electricity.
I have to admit – I’m a little skeptical of the results. For one thing, they base their estimates on the best case scenario – that we would have significant cost reduction for wind and PV power in the 20 years. However, I’m strongly in favor of anything that makes NJ cleaner and less dependent on fossil fuels.
NJ Requires Utilities to use Solar Energy
This press release from the NJ State Board of Public Utilities details an doubling in required use of renewable energy and a new requirement that some of it come from solar power.
Basically, 4 percent of a utility’s power (up from 2 percent) must be from renewable sources. This new rule mandates that 90 megawatts of NJ electric power come from solar energy.
Here’s another article from SolarAccess.com that talks about the changes. (Apologies if it’s expired – they do that for non-paying customers after 14 days.)
An article in today’s Trenton Times (couldn’t find it online) talks about how small businesses and households can get a renewable energy credit, which can be sold to a utility to allow them to meet their requirement. This could reduce our project costs, so I’ll be digging to find out more about that and will report more when I have it.
Web Stuff
