Business electricity and natural gas suppliers in New Jersey
How commercial and industrial companies in New Jersey buy electricity and gas: which utilities deliver it, what happens if you do not choose a supplier, how PJM sets the costs behind the price, and how to run a competitive purchase.
Every commercial and industrial customer of New Jersey's four electric distribution companies can buy supply from a licensed third-party supplier (TPS). Customers who do not choose receive Basic Generation Service (BGS), procured through the BPU's annual statewide auction. Discovery Energy Utility Audits buys electricity and natural gas for multi-site companies with sites in New Jersey: it inventories every account, invites every active supplier to one RFP, compares offers line for line, tracks each contract to renewal in TaraBase and audits the utility bills behind it. Its procurement fee is disclosed in advance.
01 / 07
Who delivers electricity in New Jersey
The utility in each territory owns the wires and bills delivery under a tariff the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (NJBPU) approves, whoever supplies the energy. Municipal utilities and cooperatives usually sit outside retail choice. Every utility in the state is listed in Discovery's New Jersey electric utility directory.
| Utility | Area | Grid |
|---|---|---|
| PSE&G (Public Service Electric and Gas) | Newark, Jersey City and most of the urban corridor | PJM (PSEG zone) |
| JCP&L (Jersey Central Power & Light) | Central and northern New Jersey | PJM (JCPL zone) |
| Atlantic City Electric | Southern New Jersey | PJM (AECO zone) |
| Rockland Electric | Northern Bergen, Passaic and Sussex counties | PJM (RECO zone) |
02 / 07
What happens if a business does not choose a supplier
BGS comes in two forms. Smaller commercial customers get BGS-RSCP (Residential and Small Commercial Pricing), a fixed price blended from three-year auction tranches. Customers with a peak load share of 500 kW or more get BGS-CIEP (Commercial and Industrial Energy Pricing): energy priced hourly at the PJM spot price, plus capacity and other costs set in the auction. The BPU lowered the CIEP threshold from 750 kW to 500 kW in 2012. A large New Jersey site that never chose a supplier is therefore on hourly pricing.
The BPU has also opened an investigation into the PJM capacity market. Discovery's briefing on New Jersey and the PJM capacity market covers what it changes for facilities.
03 / 07
Capacity, transmission and why prices moved
In PJM, capacity is bought in a forward auction and charged to each account through its peak load contribution (PLC), set from the account's demand in the five summer peak hours of the year before. The auction price was $28.92 per MW-day for 2024/25, $329.17 for 2026/27, $333.44 for 2027/28 and $325 for 2028/29, the third auction in a row at the price cap. At $329.17 per MW-day, each 1 MW of PLC costs about $120,147 a year before the utility's adjustment factors.
How a contract treats these charges, fixed or passed through, matters more than the headline rate. See charges by market and what to do about PJM capacity charges.
04 / 07
Natural gas for businesses in New Jersey
PSE&G, New Jersey Natural Gas, South Jersey Gas and Elizabethtown Gas all allow commercial customers to buy gas from a third-party supplier, with larger sites under transportation service. Northern New Jersey's winter capacity is rated in Discovery's northern New Jersey outlook.
Discovery's natural gas procurement page explains transport eligibility, NYMEX and basis, balancing, and firm versus interruptible service.
05 / 07
Brokers, suppliers and licensing in New Jersey
New Jersey requires energy agents, brokers and consultants to register with the BPU. Ask any broker for its registration. Discovery Energy acts as an energy broker in its procurement work; its energy broker licenses and registrations are held by Energy Auction Exchange, LLC. Ask Discovery for the license or registration that covers your New Jersey sites. Suppliers serving New Jersey customers are licensed by the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (NJBPU), which keeps the list of active suppliers. A broker can only bid your New Jersey sites to suppliers active in each utility territory, and only if it is licensed or registered where the state requires it. How brokers are paid, and what to ask, is covered in energy broker fees.
06 / 07
How Discovery buys electricity and gas in New Jersey
Inventory
Every New Jersey account: utility, rate class, default or supplier service, contract end date, usage, capacity and transmission tags.
Check the bills
Rate class, riders, demand and meter setup are tested against the tariff before a contract locks in the baseline. See utility bill audits.
Time and bid
One RFP to every active supplier, timed with the monthly Energy Risk Report, with New Jersey sites bid alongside the rest of the portfolio. See the multi-state RFP.
Compare and sign
Offers side by side on the same terms, in each structure that fits: fixed, fixed with pass-throughs, index, block and index or layered. No contract is signed without your written approval.
Track
Every contract in TaraBase, with renewals flagged well in advance so nothing rolls onto default or month-to-month pricing.
How far back utility overcharges can be refunded in New Jersey is on the New Jersey refunds page.
07 / 07
Questions about buying energy in New Jersey
Can businesses choose their electricity supplier in New Jersey?
Every commercial and industrial customer of New Jersey's four electric distribution companies can buy supply from a licensed third-party supplier (TPS). Customers who do not choose receive Basic Generation Service (BGS), procured through the BPU's annual statewide auction.
Who are the retail energy providers in New Jersey?
Suppliers are licensed by the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (NJBPU), which keeps the list of active suppliers. Discovery invites every supplier active in each utility territory to its RFPs rather than a short list.
Which electric companies serve businesses in New Jersey?
PSE&G (Public Service Electric and Gas); JCP&L (Jersey Central Power & Light); Atlantic City Electric; Rockland Electric. They deliver the power; the supply can come from a competitive supplier.
How do I compare commercial electricity offers in New Jersey?
Put every offer on the same product, term and treatment of capacity, transmission and other pass-through charges, then compare price. Check usage tolerance, auto-renewal and early termination terms before signing.
Sources
- NJBPU, Order approving the BGS auction, CIEP threshold changed from 750 kW to 500 kW in 2012.
- PSE&G, BGS-CIEP tariff sheet, default supply for LPL-Secondary 500 kW or greater and larger rate schedules.
- PJM, 2026/2027 Base Residual Auction Report, $28.92 per MW-day for 2024/25 and $329.17 for 2026/27.
- PJM, 2028/2029 Base Residual Auction results (July 14, 2026), $325 per MW-day cap; 2027/28 at $333.44.
Find out what your bills should have cost.
Send one recent bill per site, or a list of accounts. We tell you where we expect findings before you sign anything. No upfront audit fee.