STATE OF NEW JERSEY
219th LEGISLATURE
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2020 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman GORDON M. JOHNSON
District 37 (Bergen)
SYNOPSIS
Establishes gas public utility bill credit for certain customers.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel.
An Act concerning gas public utility bills and supplementing Title 48 of the Revised Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. As used in P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill):
"Board" means the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities or its successor agency.
"Distributed resource project" means a project:
a. involving the generation of electricity from a fuel cell or other technology capable of supplying electricity to a building in the event of an electric outage; or
b. that provides for a reduction in the use of electricity in a building through methods of electric conservation and load management, including, but not limited to, peak load reduction systems and demand response systems.
"Gas public utility" shall have the same meaning as provided in section 3 of P.L.1999, c.23 (C.48:3-51).
"Distribution charge credit" means a board-approved gas public utility bill credit issued by the gas public utility to a customer who operates a distributed resource project.
"Qualified gas public utility customer" means a gas public utility customer certified by the board as the owner or operator of a distributed resource project.
2. Notwithstanding the provisions of R.S.48:3-1 or any other law, regulation, rule, or order to the contrary, within 120 days after the enactment of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill), the board shall direct a gas public utility to establish a distribution charge credit for a qualified gas public utility customer, as determined by the board, who operates a distributed resource project fueled by natural gas. The distribution charge credit shall be in an amount equal to the qualified gas public utility customer's distribution charge for natural gas used to operate the qualified gas public utility customer's distributed resource project, as determined by the board.
3. All costs incurred by a gas public utility pursuant to P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill) shall be recoverable by the gas public utility in a base rate case proceeding.
4. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill establishes a gas public utility bill credit for a qualified gas public utility customer (customer). Under the bill, the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (board) is to direct a gas public utility (utility) to establish a distribution charge credit for their customers who operate a distributed resource project fueled by natural gas. The bill defines "distributed resource project" to mean a project: (1) involving the generation of electricity from a fuel cell or other technology capable of supplying electricity to a building in the event of an electric outage; or (2) that provides for a reduction in the use of electricity in a building through methods of electric conservation and load management, including, but not limited to, peak load reduction systems and demand response systems. The distribution charge credit is to be in an amount equal to the customer's distribution charge for natural gas used to operate the customer's distributed resource project, as determined by the board.
All costs incurred by a utility pursuant to the bill's provisions are to be recoverable by the utility in a base rate case proceeding.