Thu Jun 09, 2011 at 12:28:41 PM EDT
|
| The Christie administration has just issued the draft of the 2011 Energy Master Plan. Two of the overarching goals are "Drive down the cost of energy for all consumers" and "Promote a diverse portfolio of new, clean, in-State generation".
Since 2003, the State of New Jersey has had legislation that allows local governments to play a leading role in implementing the two goals above.
Unluckily, this opportunity has been completely ignored.
The Government Energy Aggregation Act of 2003 (PL. 2003, C24), authorizes municipalities and/or counties of New Jersey to establish Government Energy Aggregation (GEA) programs simply by passing an ordinance or a resolution. A GEA program allows municipalities, working alone or in a group, to aggregate the energy requirements of residential, commercial and municipal accounts at the same time. This approach gives the opportunity to qualified Third Party Suppliers (TPS) to bid on contracts for substantial quantities of energy (electricity and/or natural gas) that are put on the market by municipalities participating in a GEA program.
New Jersey residents are already receiving offers to procure electricity and gas from suppliers, other than the local utilities, based on an array of, sometimes confusing, plans with potentially expensive early termination clauses. GEA programs allow municipalities, working alone or in a group, to offer their constituents a substantially higher level of protection and assurance without any additional risk to themselves.
The current NJ legislation and the subsequent BPU rules, contain clauses that make implementation of GEA programs extremely favorable to the end users. Among the most notable features are: |
| Stefano Crema :: Saving money for NJ consumers while planning for a new energy infrastructure. |
• Low Risk. Municipalities act only as agents for the end users and are held harmless from any liability,
• Low/No Cost. Municipalities can ask the energy suppliers to refund all costs to set up a GEA program,
• Consumer Transparency. The local utilities retain responsibility for delivering, metering and billing customers,
• Consumer protection. Residential accounts enrolled in a GEA program can leave it anytime without liabilities and revert to supply by the local utility,
• Renewable energy opportunities. Municipalities can use some of the savings to purchase electricity with a higher renewable content,
• Control of contract terms and conditions. The supply contract has to follow guidelines dictated by the GEA legislation and the BPU Rules and Regulations.
Properly implemented, GEA programs will turn into a win-win situation for communities and Third Party Suppliers (TPS). In exchange for a competitive bid process, that will compel them to offer the best prices, and compliance with BPU written Rules and Regulations safeguarding the interest of the consumers, TPS will have the opportunity of, among other things, obtaining a large number of accounts all at once and substantially reduce their marketing costs with the opportunity for longer contract cycles.
Successful GEA programs have already been implemented in Ohio, Massachusetts and California.
Development of public-private partnerships to foster the construction of local, distributed, high efficiency (e.g.CHP) or renewable energy generation assets are a second step that can be undertaken by groups of municipalities participating in successful GEA programs. This will be discussed in a subsequent blog.
More information on GEA programs can be found in the website of Cooling America thru Local Leadership (CALL) at: www.njccea.org. CALL is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization established with the goal of working with local governments to help them reduce GreenHouse Gas emissions by increasing energy efficiency in their communities and exploring novel approaches to energy procurement. |
|
Featured Stories  |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
.gif)
