New Jersey Board of Public Utilities

The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) has approved Jersey Central Power and Light Co.'s offer to help a local qualifying cogeneration facility (QF) switch its status to that of an exempt wholesale generator (EWG). The QF, NRG Generating (U.S.), Inc., a subsidiary of Northern States Power Co., seeks the change in classification due to concerns about potential future reductions in the need for steam at its host industrial facility owned by Du Pont de Nemours and Co.

The Superior Court of New Jersey has upheld a state regulatory decision authorizing Bell Atlantic-New Jersey, Inc., a local exchange carrier (LEC), to switch from traditional regulation to a new price-cap plan. The new plan sets rates for noncompetitive LEC services by offsetting the annual inflation factor by a separate factor for cost savings due to productivity gains. For its part, the LEC agreed to accelerate deployment of new technologies, including a fiber-optic telecommunications network for the state. See, Re New Jersey Bell Telephone Co., 143 PUR4th 297 (N.J.B.R.C.

in energy service companies to boost earnings beyond the normal growth rate?Going on the "defensive-offensive."

In the early 1990s, flush with utility money from its corporate parent, Entergy Systems and Service, Inc. began expanding to provide competitive energy services.

The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) has denied attempts by MicroNet, a microwave telecommunications firm, to head off possible competition from Jersey Central Power and Light Co., which planned to upgrade its existing two-way radio communications systems by installing antennas and microwave dishes on new and existing towers spread across the state.

MicroNet had claimed the upgrades would create excess capacity and questioned the possibility of ratepayer subsidies.

Oliver Richard is a gas man. His career includes a stint at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, as well as at Tenngasco, Northern Natural Gas Co., Enron, New Jersey Resources Corp., and The Columbia Gas System, Inc. Now he's found a new calling. He wants to be an ad man.

Several weeks ago I heard Richard describe his idea for the perfect 30-second TV spot to plug natural gas. Two utility CEOs are on the golf course. "Electricity costs too much," says one. "Some towns can't get gas service," says the other.

The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) has authorized Elizabethtown Gas Co., to change its seasonal delivery service tariff to allow third-party suppliers to bid on incremental pipeline capacity for a limited time. (Unlike other gas distributors [LDCs], Elizabethtown could not take advantage of capacity-release programs approved by the board.) The company will allocate up to 2.5 billion cubic feet of capacity for the new offering and will not contract for additional capacity to operate the program.

The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) has approved a plan by Public Service Electric and Gas Co., a combined electric and gas utility, to reduce charges for commercial and industrial (C/I) gas sales customers to temper "dramatic" gas cost increases linked both to price moves in December at the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX), and a recent switch from an annual levelized adjustment clause mechanism to an indexed monthly adjustment.

According to the BPU, the utility's C/I gas customers would see a 20-percent rate increase for January 1996.

LDC Robustus? Which Would You Rather Be?

Post-Order 636 evolution depends on aggressive regulatory and legislative reform.

"Get out of the gas business. Drop the merchant function. We can't make any money selling gas and we are constantly at risk to having gas costs disallowed. It's a no-win situation.

The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) has approved a two-year capacity-release program for Public Service Electric and Gas Co. (PSE&G), a natural gas local distribution company (LDC), as part of an ongoing effort to unbundle gas services. Other LDCs in the state have already incorporated capacity-release programs, but PSE&G argued that it was without surplus year-round pipeline capacity. The LDC said gas marketers should obtain their own capacity at lower rates through either long-term contracts with the pipelines or through capacity release from other parties.