SWITCH YOUR ELECTRIC SUPPLY TO GREEN/RENEWABLE POWER (1/24/2023)
(one of many ways YOU can save money, AND help the environment)

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 7 years, due to lower electric costs,  solar federal tax credits and receipt of annual NJ SREC credits (annual solar dividends from NJ. In 2020, SREC was replaced by TREC , to again be replaced by new SRECs ~Oct, 2021. New SREC return will be about half of previous).  
• N
• 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. Seek multiple bids. BUT watch the fine print on future electric price escalation! See Q&A published by a trusted source: https://www.seia.org/initiatives/solar-faq NOTE: "NJ SUN" free solar panels is a SCAM! All current NJBPU sponsored Solar incentive programs can be found atwww.NJCleanEnergy.com/renewable-energy. ESPECIALLY, visit this official link to understand your options.

BUY a subscription to COMMUNITY SOLAR (currently in NJ trial; buy quickly at current 21% savings from your current electric utility bill; the last of the NJ BPU Year 2 trial may become fully subscribed by summer, 2023). One major source: https://arcadia.com Other Community Solar plans are likely in following years.

This is a cheaper/easier alternative to rooftop solar; it will be easy to buy and sell a subscription to the electricity, (or, possibly, a future ownership share in the solar array)

SWITCH TO A GREEN/RENEWABLE ELECTRIC SUPPLIER for your home and/or business.  This provides ~SAME environmental benefits as installing solar panels, requires no up-front cost, HOWEVER, since late 2021, prices have been considerably higher than NJ local electrical utility prices

• Search for the lowest cost renewable electric supplier among those licensed in NJ:
  
• Compare prices to JCP&L "price to compare"
• To research last 4 years of prices, the lowest cost suppliers are linked at bottom of http://electric.smiller.org/suppliers.htm
  Historically, residences save up to 7% and small businesses up to 10% of the energy portion of the electric bill, compared to JCP&L (electricity generated by polluting fossil fuel)

HOW DOES AN INDIVIDUAL SWITCH TO A RENEWABLE SUPPLIER? 

·      General information is provided at https://www.nj.gov/bpu/residential/ ; Renewable Energy Certificates and Offsets and RECs: What's the Difference?

·      Traders buy contracts (for RECs 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 your broker 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, choose a renewable electric vendor and click on their website
• Enter your choice of 1, 2, or 3 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 may be labeled "Energy Charge"  (~66% of the total bill)
• JCP&L will continue their customary charges for "delivery service"

RENEW AT CONTRACT END.  You receive a letter 1-2 months before contract end.  Follow the letter's directions, and you may receive an ADDITIONAL renewal discount from published prices for new customers.  Call or use web site to renew. If you do nothing, you will be switched to a month-to-month variable (higher OR lower) rate for your sustainable electric.  While you are month-to-month, you can call your 3rd party supplier to switch back to JCP&L (might take 2 months for the switch).

A LONG SHOT: ASK YOUR CITY TO SUPPLY 100% RENEWABLE ELECTRICITY [this could be subscriptions to Community Solar!): all residences are automatically included; aggregated (city or region-wide) electric purchasing enables significant discount. This is legally called Renewable Government Energy Aggregation and is often named Community Choice Aggregation. Eight Monmouth County cities, led by Red Bank, are creating a regional aggregation. "Middletown for Clean Energy" is pushing for 100% renewable electricity to be supplied by Middletown. Join our mailing list to keep informed!

ASK MEMBERS OF YOUR ORGANIZATION/ASSOCIATION/CHURCH TO JOIN TOGETHER AS AN ELECTRICAL AGGREGATION. Request bids from the lowest cost green suppliers to provide the aggregated 100% renewable electricity for all group members and associated facilities

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

NOTES: NJ Electric utilities are required to meet "Renewables Portfolio Standard". RPS currently requires ~23% of electricity provided by JCP&L is from renewable sources. The RPS increases each year, until electricity reaches 50% renewable in 2030.

This report was updated by Steve Miller 7/2/2021 stevemiller@comcast.net