BPU PJM Study Bill Passes Senate Today

Today, the Senate passed S2804 (Smith). The bill requires BPU to conduct certain analyses and a comparison study of electric transmission grid operating in New Jersey. The bill was passed with a vote of 34-0.

“It is important for the Legislature to step in on this important issue. The Legislature is asking the BPU to do a study on the impacts of the new FERC PJM Minimum Offer Price Rule. This MOPR rule is a big giveaway to dirty energy. They are putting a fee on clean energy to subsidize dirty power. This decision will cost ratepayers in New Jersey millions of dollars a year. More importantly, it will really affect the ability to move forward with renewable energy in New Jersey, especially offshore wind,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “It’s critical that this bill calls on the Board of Public Utilities to perform a study that includes FRR. The FRR option may be the only realistic policy fix that overcomes the enormous problems caused by the PJM capacity market.”

Sierra Club has contended that the Fixed Resource Requirement (FRR) option would be the state’s most effective course of action to overcome the extensive and needless barriers the PJM capacity market has created that threaten New Jersey Clean Energy Goals. The FRR provides utilities and load-serving entities (LSE) with an alternative to continued participation in PJM’s capacity mechanism. It requires a utility or LSE to develop a plan to procure enough capacity to meet the forecasted peak demand for power for all customers within the designated FRR zone.

“MOPR poses a huge threat to New Jersey’s ability to meet our strong climate commitments and could needlessly raise utility bills on already overburdened residents. The Board is starting to look at options, and this bill will show that the Legislature supports what they’re doing as they move forward with their analysis. It is important that the BPU designs the FRR in a way that protects against potential pitfalls and calculates the serious savings to consumers that affordable clean energy can bring,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “This legislation will help the BPU study and analyze the best options for New Jersey moving forward.”