Forecast: NJ Heating, Electricity Costs Will Drop this Winter

It will be more expensive this winter for people nationwide to heat their homes and keep the lights on -- but not in New Jersey.

It will cost up to 13 percent more to heat homes with natural gas and 2 percent more for electricity in coming months, the U.S. Energy Information Administration projected yesterday in its annual short-term winter outlook.

In New Jersey, however, costs will drop, albeit modestly, but still offering welcome relief in a state where business owners and residents often complain about paying some of the highest energy costs in the nation.

Credit, in part, goes to increased drilling for natural gas in the Marcellus Shale portions of Pennsylvania and neighboring states, which is making cheaper supplies of the fuel readily available to New Jersey consumers and businesses for both heating and electricity.

Three of the state’s four gas utilities will see consumer prices either drop by as much as 4.3 percent (in the case of Elizabethtown Gas) or remain flat (for those served by Public Service Electric & Gas). Meanwhile, electricity prices in New Jersey already have been locked in for the winter season, and those costs will fall up to 5 percent for customers, depending on which of the state’s four utilities serves them.

Read more at NJSpotlight.com