SWITCH YOUR ELECTRIC SUPPLY TO GREEN/RENEWABLE POWER (7/30/2017)

(one of many ways YOU can save money, AND help the environment)

(harder) INSTALL SOLAR CELLS:

• THE GREATEST RETURN ON INVESTMENT:  if money is available, pay up-front to install solar panels on your roof and become your own electrical supplier.  Payback might be 4 years, due to lower electric costs,  solar federal tax credits and receipt of annual NJ SREC credits (annual solar dividends from NJ).  
• OR, FINANCE for as little as NO money up front.  The solar company installs and owns the panels installed on homeowner’s roof.  The homeowner signs a 10 or 20 year contract for a lower electric rate with the solar company. The investors in the solar panel company  benefit from fast payback. See the supplier list: Viridian Energy appears to be using this process.

(easier) SWITCH TO A GREEN/RENEWABLE ELECTRIC SUPPLIER  This is the lowest complexity option that provides ~SAME environmental benefits as installing solar panels:.

• Search for the lowest cost renewable electric supplier among those licensed in NJ:
  
• Compare prices to JCP&L "price to compare": https://www.firstenergycorp.com/customer_choice/new_jersey/price_to_compare.html
• The lowest cost supplier, June 2017, was https://www.clearviewenergy.com ; On 6/12/2017, 3 suppliers have roughly equal lowest price
  Save up to 1.2 cents/kwh (13% of the energy portion of your electric bill), compared to JCP&L electricity generated by polluting fossil fuel

(easiest of all): ASK YOUR CITY TO SUPPLY 100% RENEWABLE ELECTRICITY: all residences are automatically included; aggregated (large city-wide) electric purchasing enables 100% green electric rates significantly less than JCP&L "price to compare"

HOW DOES AN INDIVIDUAL SWITCH TO A RENEWABLE SUPPLIER?  uses Great Eastern Energy as example. other sustainable suppliers in NJ are likely to have a similar process:

·      General information is provided at http://www.nj.gov/bpu/residential/ ; Renewable Energy Certificates and http://www.renewablechoice.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Guide-To-RECs-White-Paper.pdf

·      Great Eastern Traders buy contracts from nation-wide Brokers of “sustainable” certified electric sources. 

• The contracts are audited, to ensure compliance to NJ license requirements (separate audits ensure compliance with license requirements of each state in which Great Eastern does business).
• A US government high level view is provided at https://www.eia.gov/

HOW DO YOU PROCEED?  On-line signup takes only minutes. 

• With your latest electric bill in hand, fill out the form at the chosen vendor's website
• Enter your choice of 1 or 2 year contract
• The new electric supplier (at a new lower price) will be shown on your monthly JCP&L bill, ~ 2months after signing up (delay may be 3 or 4 months for small commercial business).  It will be labeled "current consumption"  (~66% of the total bill)
• JCP&L will continue their customary charges for "delivery service" (~34% of the total bill)

RENEW AT CONTRACT END.  (using Great Eastern as example) You receive a letter 1-2 months before contract end.  Follow the letter's directions.  You will have a limited time to call Great Eastern  to renew your sustainable electric contract at a special low rate.  If you do nothing, you will be switched to a month-to-month variable rate for your sustainable electric. (This variable rate, on 2/17/2017 was ~JCP&L rate).  While you are month-to-month, you can call Great Eastern and switch back to JCP&L fossil fuel electric (might take 2 months for the switch). Once you have returned to JCP&L as the supllier, you can then switch to another low cost suppliers of non-polluting renewable energy.

REFERENCES:  Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd (a commercial electric customer) has switched to Great Eastern Energy, and presently saving.  Church members (Residential customers) have switched,  and are presently saving

BACK TO OVERVIEW: http://www.electric.smiller.org

archives: 3/25/2017 ;

NOTES: NJ Electric suppliers are required to meet "Renewables Portfolio Standard" (currently ~20% of electric must be renewable). This report was updated by S. Miller 7/30/2017; Disclaimer: All data and observations are believed accurate. Suppliers and prices vary with time; customers should do their own research.