New Jersey deregulated its energy market in 1999, allowing people to choose which companies generate the electricity that powers their homes. The idea behind the law was to introduce competition into the previously monopolized energy market.

New Jersey residents haven’t exactly taken advantage of the opportunity: Only about 6% of residential customers switched in 2023.

“Not everyone is making the effort to take advantage of the opportunity to change,” said Clinton Andrews, a professor of urban planning and policy development at Rutgers University and director of the Center for Urban Policy Research (which has research contracts with the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities).

“New Jersey’s deregulation occurred as part of the national pattern that began in 1978 with the passage of the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act, which was intended to promote renewable energy and alternative energy but also essentially enabled competition at the generation level,” Andrews said  “With deregulation, much of the focus has been on opening up competition at the generation level and not really at the transmission and distribution level.”

Read the full article and see the charts comparting electricity prices, visit CNET.com, January 31, 2024.