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A

Aggregation:    The act of collecting together. 

Alternative Energy:  Any energy source that is an alternative to fossil fuel.  These alternatives are intended to address concerns about fossil fuels.

Ancillary services:  Services that ensure reliability and support the transmission of electricity from generation sites to customer loads.

Assistance programs: Programs that provide assistance to consumers with utility bills.  For more information on the programs and what may be available:  http://www.nj.gov/bpu/assistance/programs/top

B

BGS: "Basic generation service" or "BGS" means electric generation service that is provided to any customer that has not chosen an electric power supplier, as defined herein, whether or not the customer has received offers for competitive supply options; including, but not limited to, any customer that cannot obtain such service from an electric power supplier for any reason, including non-payment for services. Basic generation service is not a competitive service and shall be fully regulated by the Board.

BGSS: "Basic gas supply service" The gas supply service that is provided to any customer that has not chosen an alternative gas supplier, whether or not the customer has received offers as to competitive supply options; including, but not limited to, any customer that cannot obtain such service from a gas supplier for any reason, including non-payment for services. Basic gas supply service is not a competitive service and shall be fully regulated by the Board.

Board: The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities ("Board" or "BPU"). The Board of Public Utilities is the state agency with authority to oversee the regulated utilities, which in turn provide critical services such as natural gas, electricity, water, telecommunications and cable television. The law requires the Board to ensure safe, adequate, and proper utility services at reasonable rates for customers in New Jersey. The Board addresses issues of consumer protection, energy reform, deregulation of energy and telecommunications services and the restructuring of utility rates to encourage energy conservation and competitive pricing in the industry. The Board also has responsibility for monitoring utility service and responding to consumer complaints. http://www.nj.gov/bpu/about/index.html

BPU: The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities.

Btu: British thermal unit: A standard unit of energy. One Btu is equal to the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of one pound of liquid water by one degree Fahrenheit at its maximum density, which occurs at a temperature of 39.1 degrees Fahrenheittop

C

Change order: A request, submitted by a Third Party Supplier to a public utility company to switch the customer to that Third Party Supplier.

Consolidated Billing: Under this billing method, a single customer bill is issued to a customer of a Third Party Supplier. It includes the supply charges of the Third Party Supplier as well as the distribution charges of the Electric and/or Gas Utility, for which a single payment from the customer is expected. This is generally done by the Utility.

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D

Delivery Charge: The charge for delivering natural gas or electricity to homes and businesses including the cost of government-mandated programs designed to achieve public policy goals, such as energy conservation.

Distribution:  The delivery of energy to retail customers.

Distribution System:  An electric system that is dedicated to delivering electric energy to a customer, or a gas system that is dedicated to delivering natural gas to a customer.

De-regulation:  The reduction or elimination of government power in a particular industry usually enacted to create more competition within the industry.

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Dual Billing - Under this billing method, the customer will be issued two bills for energy.  The Third Party Supplier invoices for supply charges, and the utility invoices for delivery charges.  The customer is responsible for paying both invoices.top

E


EDC or Electric Distribution Company:  An electric public utility, as defined herein.  An EDC is a company that owns the power lines, poles and other equipment necessary to deliver purchased electricity to the customer.  An EDC provides basic generation service to customers who chose not to shop or to those customers no longer purchasing their electricity from  electric power suppliers.

EDECA:  Electric Discount and Energy Competition Act, N.J.S.A. 48:3-49, et seq.

Electric power supplier: An entity licensed by the Board or Public Utilities to offer, and to assume the contractual and legal responsibility to provide, electric generation service for use by retail customers. This term includes, but is not limited to, load serving entities, marketers and brokers that offer or provide electric generation service for use by retail customers. An electric power supplier generates electricity or buys electric generation, and sells it to others for use by retail customers. An electric public utility that provides electric generation service only for the purpose of providing basic generation service is not an electric power supplier.

Electric public utility: A public utility, as that term is defined in N.J.S.A. 48:2-13, that transmits and distributes electricity to end users in New Jersey.

Energy aggregation program: An arrangement for the procurement of energy and/or energy-related services, in which a lead agency contracts with a TPS, so as to provide for the energy needs of participants in the program.

Electric Energy: Energy is the amount of electricity (produced from capacity) customers consume over time. Energy is measured in megawatt-hours (MWH).  When you turn on a light, plug in a computer or cool a home, you consume energy.top

F

FERC: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission or any successor agency.

Fixed Pricing:  Fixed pricing refers to a set price per unit that will be charged over a set period of time as defined by the contract.  A fixed price is the assurance that your price, per unit will not change during the period of time indicated, regardless of fluctuations in market pricing.   If a Third Party Supplier signs up a customer or renews a customer for an energy supply price that the Third Party Supplier characterizes as "Fixed" or "firm", the Third Party Supplier must provide the time period for which the price is fixed; and the Third Party Supplier may not charge the customer a rate that is higher than the fixed rate during the period for which it is fixed, unless there is an increase in a cost that they are required by law to collect from customers, such as Sales and Use Taxtop

G

Gas Distribution Company (GDC): A gas public utility.  A GDC is a company that owns the distribution and service pipes and equipment necessary to deliver purchased natural gas to the customer.  A GDC provides basic gas supply service to customers who chose not to shop or to those customer no longer purchaseing their gas supplies from a gas supplier.

Gas supplier: An entity licensed by the Board under EDECA to offer or provide gas supply service to retail customers. This term includes, but is not limited to, marketers and brokers. A non-public utility affiliate of a public utility holding company may be a gas supplier, but a gas public utility or its subsidiary is not a gas supplier. If a gas public utility is not part of a holding company legal structure, a related competitive business segment of that gas public utility may be a gas supplier, provided that related competitive business segment is structurally separated from the gas public utility, and provided that the interactions between the gas public utility and the related competitive business segment are subject to the affiliate relations standards at N.J.A.C. 14:4-3.

GEA: "Government Energy Aggregation Program" or "GEA" refers to a program where a government entity such as a municipality or county, acts as an aggregator by entering into a written contract for the provision of electric generation service or gas supply service on behalf of residential or non-residential customers within its geographic boundaries.

Generation:  The process of producing electric energy by transforming other forms of energy; also, the amount of electric energy produced, expressed in kilowatthours.top

K

kW:  Kilowatts, a unit of power representing 1,000 watts. A kW equals 1/1000 of a MW.

kWh: kilowatt-hours, or 1,000 watt-hours.

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L

LDC or "Local Distribution Company”: an electric public utility or a gas public utility, as those terms are defined herein.

Lead agency: refers to the government aggregator that establishes and manages an energy aggregation program.top

M

MLM: Multi-level marketing: A marketing strategy in which the sales force is compensated for sales they personally generate, as well as for the sales of the other salespeople they recruit.

 
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O

Opt-in:  To affirmatively participate in a program from which the customer would be automatically excluded unless the customer affirmatively indicated the intention to participate.

Opt-out: To affirmatively indicate a choice not to participate in a program in which the customer would be automatically included unless the customer affirmatively indicated the intention not to participate.top

P

Private aggregator: A non-government business or non-profit organization authorized to operate in New Jersey that combines the energy loads of multiple end users, and enters into a contract with an electric power supplier for the purchase of electric generation service or with a gas supplier for gas supply service on behalf of those end users. A private aggregator does not take title to the energy involved in the transaction.

 

Price to Compare (Electricity):  The Price to Compare is the price customers pay to their electric utility company, i.e. ACE, JCP&L, PSE&G, or RECO, for the supply portion of their utility bill.  It represents the portion of the utility bill that will be replaced by the charges of a Third Party Supplier if a customer switches to a Third Party Supplier.  On an electric utility bill, the Price to Compare is the average cost per kilowatt-hour (kWh) for electric generation and transmission.  The Price to Compare includes the cost of energy, capacity, transmission, ancillary services, line losses, state sales tax, etc.   The Price to Compare also includes a reconciliation of costs.  The Price to Compare will generally change seasonally on June 1st and October 1st of each year to reflect changes to the energy, capacity, and ancillary service costs components.  However, it will also change from time to time to reflect Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved changes to the transmission cost component, and changes to the reconciliation cost component and other approved changes.  [Link to Page]

Price to Compare (Gas): The Price to Compare is the price customers pay to their gas utility company, i.e. ETG, NJNG, PSE&G, or SJG, for the supply portion of their utility bill.  It represents the portion of the utility bill that will be replaced by the charges of a Third Party Supplier if a customer switches to a Third Party Supplier.  On a gas utility bill, the Price to Compare is the average cost per therm for natural gas supply.  It includes state Sales and Use tax.

The Price to Compare will generally change on October 1st of each year to reflect changes to the wholesale cost of natural gas, the cost of transporting the natural gas to the utility’s distribution system, and a reconciliation of costs from the prior year.  However, it can also increase on December 1st and on February 1st of each year if costs increase significantly.  The utility is also permitted to self-implement rate decreases (or bill credits/refunds) at any time.  Price To Compare Informationtop

R

Regulated service: A service subject to regulation by the Board of Public Utilities.


Regulated entity: A person or entity that is subject to the jurisdiction of the Board of Public Utilities, or that provides a product or service subject to the jurisdiction of the Board of Public Utilities. This term includes a Utility, as defined in this section.top

S

Shutoff: Discontinuation of utility service.  You have certain rights that the utility must observe before your power can be shutoff.  Please see the Customer Rights section to review these rights.

Slamming: Refers to being switched to a supplier or Third Party Supplier without your consent (with the exception of Government Energy Aggregation).top

T

TPS Contract Summary:   If you sign-up for service from a Third Party Electric and/or Gas Supplier, you have the right to receive a one-page summary of your contract that will highlight and summarize the most relevant contract terms and will be presented in a standard format.  Third Party Supplier Contract Summary

Therm:  A unit of heating value equivalent to 100,000 British thermal units (Btu).

TPS:  Refers to Third Party Supplier, the licensed supplier of electricity or gas other than the electric or public utility company.

Third Party Supplier:  also referred to as "TPS".  An electric power supplier or a gas supplier as described below.

Third Party Gas Supplier:  An entity licensed to do business in the State of New Jersey by the Board of Public Utilities to offer or provide gas supply service to retail customers. This term includes, but is not limited to, marketers and brokers.  While your natural gas public utility company may have an unregulated affiliate that is a Third Party Supplier, your utility company is not a Third Party Supplier.

Third Party Electric Power Supplier:  An entity licensed to do business in the State of New Jersey by the Board of Public Utilities to offer and assume the contractual and legal responsibility to provide electric generation service for use by retail customers. This term includes, but is not limited to, load serving entities, marketers and brokers that offer or provide electric generation service for use by retail customers.  While your electric public utility company may have an unregulated affiliate that is a Third Party Supplier, your utility company is not a Third Party Supplier.

Transmission (electric):  The movement or transfer of electric energy over an interconnected group of lines and associated equipment between points of supply and points at which it is transformed for delivery to consumers or to other electric systems. Transmission is considered to end when the energy is transformed for distribution to the consumer.

Transmission (of natural gas): Physically transmitting and delivering gas from a source or sources of supply to one or more delivery points.  Transmission pipelines may also deliver directly to one or more large volume customers or a pipeline installed to interconnect sources of supply.  In typical cases, transmission lines differ from distribution gas mains in that they operate at higher pressures, are longer, the distance between connections is greater and they are generally interstate.  Interstate transmission mains are regulated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

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U

Utility: Is defined in N.J.S.A. 48:2-13 and includes pipeline utilities as defined in N.J.S.A. 48:10-3, and municipally-operated utilities, insofar as the Board's jurisdiction is extended to them under the appropriate statutes.top

V

Variable:  Something that may change or is changeable.  top

W

WTP (Winter Termination Program):  Administered by the BPU, the Winter Termination Program protects specific categories of customers from having their gas or electric shut off between November 15th and March 15th.   For more information, please call 1-800-624-0241.  top

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