N.J. BPU Staff to Review BGS Reconciliation Charge, Process

Prompted by comments from the Rate Counsel, the New Jersey BPU Staff is initiating an informal stakeholder process to review each of the electric utility's Basic Generation Service (BGS) reconciliation charges.

The reconciliation charge, which is bypassable, accounts for the difference between amounts paid to BGS suppliers and amounts collected from BGS customers, and can be affected by, among other things, customer migration.

Board Staff requested comments on the following:

1) Are the current reconciliation methods used by the EDCs contributing to price volatility? If so, provide examples of collection disparity. In terms of billing accuracy, is there a differing level of customer complexity for Fixed Price (FP) customers versus Commercial and Industrial Energy Price (CIEP, or hourly) customers?

2) Should the EDCs be required to adopt a uniform reconciliation method and timeframe? Conversely, should each EDC be allowed to adopt its own individual reconciliation practices?

3) Is the increasing trend of customer migration away from BGS to Third Party Suppliers affecting the EDCs' ability to project accurate collection data?

4) What factors other than variations in sales forecast and customer migration are contributing to any volatility in the BGS reconciliation charges?

5) Should the BGS reconciliation charge be subject to one-way interest like the BGSS charge?

6) What effect does the allocation of transmission costs on kWh basis have on volatility in the BGS prices? Can the cost allocation be modified to lessen or eliminate the volatility in BGS prices?

A technical conference will be held on December 5.