N.J. starts auction for utility electric supplies
NEW YORK, Feb 3 (Reuters)
New Jersey started its third Internet auction to supply electricity to customers who have not selected an alternative supplier, officials at the state Board of Public Utilities (BPU) said Tuesday.
The results of the so-called Basic Generation Service (BGS) auction, which started on Feb. 2, will likely not be reported until the end of the week or early next week.
Officials at the BPU could not say how long the auction would last, how many companies were participating or how much power would be sold.
"The auction will be over when all the tranches are sold. We don't know how long it will last," said Eric Hartsfield, an administrative analyst at the BPU, noting the 2002 and 2003 auctions lasted seven days and two days, respectively.
A tranche represents about 100 megawatts. One megawatt provides enough electricity for about 1,000 homes.
The 2003 auction secured about 19,000 MW of electricity worth an estimated $5.2 billion.
New Jersey is the only state in the nation to procure all of its electric needs by an Internet auction.
There were two separate auctions: one to serve the state's largest, mostly industrial, customers (hourly auction) and one for small to medium-sized customers (fixed priced auction).
Most of the tranches are for fixed price power. The hourly auction covered just 1,750 large accounts in 2003. Most industrial companies in New Jersey (about 70 percent) already buy power from third party (non-utility) providers.
The winning bidders will start delivering power on June 1.
The four utilities providing BGS service are: Public Service Enterprise Group Inc.'s ((PEG.N)) Public Service Electric & Gas Co., FirstEnergy Corp.'s ((FE.N)) Jersey Central Power & Light, Pepco Holdings Inc.'s ((POM.N)) Conectiv Power Delivery, and Consolidated Edison Inc.'s ((ED.N)) Rockland Electric.
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