Consumers should catch a break on their bills, albeit a small one, based on results of BPU's annual power auction

Tom Johnson reports for NJ Spotlight:

New Jersey Electric customers will see their bills dip slightly this June, as falling natural-gas prices continue to lower costs for residents and small businesses.

For the typical residential customer, bills could fall from 1.9 percent to 4.6 percent, based on the results of an annual online auction in which electric utilities buy the power supplies they will need to keep the lights on for ratepayers.

The results, announced by the state Board of Public Utilities, which oversees the annual auction, reflect a trend in recent years in which the cost of power has typically dropped, a development attributed to new and plentiful supplies of natural gas being tapped in Pennsylvania and other states.

For customers of Atlantic City Electric, the average monthly bill will drop by $5.86, or 4.65 percent to $120.23; at Jersey Central Power & Light, it will fall by $3.25, or 3.53 percent to $88.71; at Public Service Electric & Gas, bills will dip by $2.16, or 1.9 percent to $110.69; and Rockland Electric customers will pay $5.09 less, or 4.3 percent to $114.13.

The results will lower energy costs in the state, noted Joseph Fiordaliso, president of the BPU. "Overall, the 2018 auction was another success,'' he said. The auction was the 17th conducted by the state agency since the energy sector was deregulated in 1999.

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