Economic Development Pilot

The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities has approved an electric utility's request to modify and expand the eligibility criteria of its redevelopment and small commercial development programs for business customers, which currently are offered on a pilot basis.

The utility, Atlantic City Electric Company, said that the programs are designed to provide qualifying small to large businesses with an economic incentive to expand existing operations and/or locate new facilities in the southern New Jersey territory served by the utility. Under the pilot arrangement, eligible business customers can receive a credit equal to a 20% discount on distribution service and demand charges for a term of five years. Recognizing that its present programs may be inadvertently overly restrictive, the utility had proffered certain modifications and clarifications so as to attract and broaden the eligibility criteria for commercial and industrial customers.

The board said that the authorized modifications should facilitate greater customer participation, provide value to participants via the program discount, and benefit all customers by enhancing the overall regional economy in southern New Jersey. (Docket No. ER17010007.)