Toms River NJ Natural Gas Customers Expected to Save 37% on Bill

New Jersey Natural Gas (NJNG) today notified the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) that it will implement a bill credit totaling $71.2 million for residential and small commercial sales customers. The credit will be in effect for natural gas usage between December 1, 2011 and January 31, 2012, and is expected to save the average customer approximately 37 percent over the two-month period.

“As natural gas prices continue to decline, we are pleased to pass the savings on to our customers,” said Laurence M. Downes, chairman and CEO of NJNG. “As the weather outside turns colder and the heat inside gets turned up, this bill credit will provide some welcomed relief to our customers at a time when heating costs are typically at their highest.”

The bill credit will save customers approximately 44 cents per therm and will be based on each customer’s usage during the time it is in effect. A typical residential customer will receive credits in their December and January bills totaling approximately $160, or 37 percent. At current prices, the average customer using 363 therms over the two months would see their bills decrease from $433 to $273. As it is unknown what market prices will do for the remainder of the winter, the bill credit is the quickest and most effective way for NJNG to provide the savings to its customers.

NJNG is able to offer a bill credit to customers at this time as a result of improvements in its meter reading and revenue processes as well as recent lower wholesale natural gas prices. The bill credit is in addition to the reduction of 9.3 percent to customer bills in October, mostly related to its Basic Gas Supply Service (BGSS) rates. The BGSS is primarily a commodity charge that is passed through to customers based on the company’s cost to acquire natural gas. This portion accounts for approximately 57 percent of a customer’s bill. Since it represents solely the cost of the commodity, any change in the BGSS does not represent a change in profits to the company.

Posted by Ocean County News on Jan 30 2012. Filed under Business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.