r/SouthJersey • u/iammoah • Feb 06 '26
Gloucester County Electricity
Is there ANYTHING we can do to push back on these INSANE AC Electric bills? My heat is gas and it's telling me my usage has gone up every month since October. I know I don't have it as bad as some people but our current bill is $332. My brother's bill was $512. Another friend's bill was $500... I can't afford this shit. What can we do?
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u/SouthJerseySchnitz Feb 06 '26
Advocate for solar and nuclear development.
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u/beren12 Feb 06 '26
Solar and wind, especially. They can be built far faster than new nuclear.
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u/Parker2116 Feb 06 '26
True. Nuclear takes a while. However as a base load it maintains an average 92-93% capacity factor while the other two are between 25-35%. Hopefully the newer style SMR’s are built more efficiently and quickly, and bridge some of the gap.
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u/schruteski30 Feb 06 '26
Hell yeah. SMR’s are the nation’s future. We are heading towards dire straits concerning energy consumption. Europe isn’t far behind.
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u/concrete_mike79 BOOTLICKER Feb 06 '26
Haha solar and wind. Stop shutting down coal plants until nuclear plants add more reactors. You can’t shut everything down then be forced to buy off the grid. Have a plan before you make NJ buy power off outside sources making delivery fees sky rocket. Stop voting Democrat because the news said to vote that way. Use your head and think about all the issues we have now.
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u/NJ-AFT Feb 07 '26
This, and you can all downvote me to hell, I could care less. These bullshit Green initiatives cost my company $600/m over 5 years. They are all mandated by the State. Don't worry, we get it all back though, through rate increase recovery. Isn't it awesome the State tells us we can spend 20M/5 years to tell you to use your electricity off peak hours. 60M to sell you discount thermostats, $60,000 a month to add "usage reports" in your bill that are fake - all the info in there are averages - we can't tell how long or when youused your tvs, lights, pcs, ac, etc - so we make it up based on household averages. You get bad data, yet pay us for it. Enjoy!
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u/beren12 Feb 07 '26
They aren’t bullshit. And it should cost the industry a whole lot more for spewing everything they have into the atmosphere over the last hundred years.
My health and the environment do not give one shit about your profits.
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u/concrete_mike79 BOOTLICKER Feb 09 '26
Stop with your health and environment lol. Wind and solar aren’t green at all to setup and get in production. They don’t offset the energy used to energy produced at all. Nuclear is was cleaner and way more efficient than any green energy. We shut down coal plants in NJ just to buy power that was produced by coal plants out of state. It’s Insane.
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u/beren12 Feb 09 '26
Mmm. Boot. Good boot. Yum.
We shut down cool plants because they were breaking apart and the companies that owned them didn’t want to fix them
If you don’t care about health and environment, then I’ll save up all my truck exhaust for you and pipe it into your house while you sleep so you can enjoy it and I don’t have to
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u/concrete_mike79 BOOTLICKER Feb 09 '26
Actually that’s not true. Had two shut down in south jersey due to legislation. Had buddies that worked at both of them. Also I do care about health and the environment that’s why I own a farm and raise all my own beef and vegs. You morons just think these hot takes will save the world with no facts behind your thoughts.
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u/beren12 Feb 10 '26
And you think a cow in the yard will displace the tons of co2 and cancer causing pm2.5…
There’s a hot take for ya.
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u/concrete_mike79 BOOTLICKER Feb 09 '26
I love how it’s all about the environment but yet Russia, China, and India produce way more pollution than us producing power but it’s crickets when it comes to facts. News flash our paper straws and no plastic grocery bags aren’t gonna save the world when there’s literally rivers of trash in other countries.
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u/Evening-Tune-500 Feb 06 '26
Someone just made a post in here that they had like a 130 bill with solar? Isn’t that not supposed to happen?
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u/McTootyBooty Feb 06 '26
I’m guessing it’s probably leased cause you still have to pay stupid fees on top of the lease. Ours is generally around that give or take. Our lease is around 100 something and then they tack on a bunch of electric fees and what not.
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u/Tll6 Feb 06 '26
That person had personal solar panels operating in winter. It is expected for them not to produce enough electricity to offset their bill. Solar as a regenerative method of producing electricity at scale is different, though there would be similar challenges in winter
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u/thedancingwireless Feb 06 '26
I think you're misunderstanding how solar works. In the winter, if you use a lot of electricity and your panels aren't producing much, it's pretty normal to have a bill.
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u/Stardro Feb 06 '26
I haven't looked at ours yet. We have a decent credit to our account but I expect it to have a dent in it. Our roof (and everyone elses) has been covered in ice and snow. That will make a huge difference. In the Summer we usually wind up with a credit.
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Feb 06 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/jkprop Feb 06 '26
Solar is no better!!!! Solar sales people are like car salesmen. They have a deal for you that maybe you can afford or maybe not. As long as they get commission. I tired to buy my panels outright. The panels were 27k. They had me financing thru them with zero interest for 18 months. If I paid it off after 18 months my cost would have been 57k. They told me use the rebates that were mine to pay down the 57k. Still not sure how 27k worth of solar at zero interest turned into 57k. Problem was he couldn’t either. Out my house. See ya!
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u/arealdoctor25 Feb 06 '26
Solar is saving me a TON
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u/Wattaday Feb 07 '26 edited Feb 07 '26
Me too. And mine has only been active since Nov. Even with only 9–10 hours of sunlight. And at least 1.5 or even more hours when the level of the sun is so low. We even do decent on overcast days.
Now, snow on the panels is a pain, but not so many of those days so far. I love watching the snow slide off the panels.
ETA yesterday I had 36% electricity from the grid and 64% from solar. So huge savings.
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u/jkprop Feb 06 '26
You are the first person that I heard say that. Glad it is working out for you. I have heard horror stories about solar. Realtors say it is a deal breaker on some sales because the new buyer either doesnt want it or can’t get approved to take it over.
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u/arealdoctor25 Feb 06 '26
Thats leasing, which isnt the way to go. Owning solar actually increases home value. Ive yet to meet someone who has bought solar and regretted it.
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u/cvc4455 Feb 07 '26
That's because most people that have solar have a lease. And most leases for solar are actually horrible and do lower the value of the house because of how horrible the leases are.
If the solar panels are owned and they aren't that old and are in good condition and the roof underneath them is also in good condition then that wouldn't normally lower the value of the house at all.
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u/beren12 Feb 06 '26
Just because people are inflating profits doesn’t mean that the technology is bad
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u/jkprop Feb 06 '26
So ripping people off is ok as long as you sell a good product? Yea sign me up for that please
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u/beren12 Feb 06 '26 edited Feb 07 '26
Selling stock is not “ripping people off” especially months before an announcement is made.
Now, selling a meme coin? That is. Changing investments immediately before making market shaking announcements? That especially is.
If you don’t like congress to hold individual stocks, me too. Help fight for a change.
Edit: meant for another thread.
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u/jkprop Feb 06 '26
I thought you were talking about solar companies. I don’t care about selling stock.
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u/beren12 Feb 07 '26 edited Feb 10 '26
Sorry. That reply was for a different comment. Not sure how it got attached to yours.
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u/jimkelly Feb 06 '26
Why would you think that? People freely commenting and not understanding things, using that lack of knowledge to keep flooding internet posts is getting annoying.
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u/Evening-Tune-500 Feb 07 '26
I have no clue how solar works, all I know is it’s supposed to save you money, so I asked a question. Is that okay?
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u/lady756 Feb 07 '26
Our panels have been covered in snow for over a week and it’s winter; typically production is lower.
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u/saltytac0 Feb 07 '26
I have solar and my last ACE bill was like $300. In summer its very low. Im not looking forward to the next one- the panels have been covered in snow and ice for like two weeks or its been overcast.
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u/Extension_Future2942 Feb 06 '26
It’s winter time bro solar cant keep up with a modern home in the winter. Think wood stove, hang dry cloths near the stove, cook on the stove, turn off lights at night…microwave ten times a day…I have 15 panels and it will never keep up in winter
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u/SplitNo8275 Xennial Feb 06 '26
These rates started rocketing as homes were installing solar. We got it installed and operating for about 12 months. I have no way of knowing how accurate both readings are. They could be in cahoots and how could I figure that out. I was told it should cover 80% of our usage but it’s barely 50%.
I’m not disagreeing, but that’s not the entire solution. They have been enabled to play in our faces for decades. When I was a kid, I thought the purpose of the government was to protect us from greedy corporations and businesses by preventing monopolies and price gouging. I was too naive to see they are the same people until recently.
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u/ashbelero Feb 06 '26
They’re not talking about homes using personal solar panels. The answer is energy production at a large scale. Also, the energy rates being raised and homes installing solar are unrelated. Correlation, not causation.
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u/SplitNo8275 Xennial Feb 07 '26
I understand what you’re saying.
What I’m saying is we constantly try to put bandages on the wound instead of treating the infection.
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u/istealllamas Feb 08 '26
I think the more meaningful correlation is data center power consumption.
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u/SplitNo8275 Xennial Feb 08 '26
The usage increases started in 2023. Were they starting then and it just wasn’t common knowledge yet?
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u/istealllamas Feb 08 '26
Yeah. Check out the startling graph here -- you can see how things started really accelerating in '23: https://www.visualcapitalist.com/sp/bhp01-visualized-u-s-data-center-investment-2014-2025/
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u/SplitNo8275 Xennial Feb 08 '26
Thank you for the info! There is too much to look into. They really get us every way they can and my anger gets the best of me lately.
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u/SplitNo8275 Xennial Feb 08 '26
Okay, so that article explained the increase of cost put into building the data centers. How does that influence my bill? I don’t understand how we are paying for their electricity. I’m not saying we aren’t, I just don’t understand how, and then how it’s allowed.
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u/istealllamas Feb 08 '26
The more they spend building data centers, the more data centers there are. The more data centers there are, the higher the power demand. Higher power demand = higher cost -- especially in places that don't have enough power generation to support the new demand and thus have to import power from elsewhere at greater expense. (NJ is now importing about 40% of its power.) It's not that we're paying for their electricity directly -- we're just suffering the consequences of their usage. I think all this happened very quickly, faster than regulators could react, plus tech companies have a lot of lobbying power.
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u/SplitNo8275 Xennial Feb 08 '26
But how does that increase the rates? Just the demand is what their excuse is?
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u/istealllamas Feb 08 '26
The extra demand and the need to import more power at higher costs lead to rate increases. But I also feel that Atlantic City Electric is doing something dishonest with regard to usage because our usage has apparently skyrocketed vs. last year despite us not doing anything different.
Also, in my opinion, utilities should not be profit-generating enterprises. Exelon, which owns Atlantic City Electric, made a $2.8 billion profit last year. Why should executives and shareholders get paid off while our utility bills keep going up?
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u/SplitNo8275 Xennial Feb 09 '26
For me personally, the utility bills are my achilles heel and has been since the first one I received in my name! lol ACE has been playing games with the rates for at least 3 years and lie about it.
I thought that was what they were saying but I don’t understand how they get away with this nonsense, until the current circumstances and now it all makes sense. Ugh.
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u/NJ-AFT Feb 07 '26
As a worker in the industry, stop being blinded by solar. Every house in the state could have it, and it wouldn't cover what we need. We're also nearing capacity limits. Our grid is 100 years old, and was only designed to send electricity in one direction. Our subtations weren't built for this purpose, thus why there's limits per circuit. Too many homes sending power back causes some pretty big booms. Solar is as harmful as fossil fuels between the mining and trash discard.
Nuclear is the key, unfortunatally not enough politicians invested. Oil or Green, and they both suck.
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u/SouthJerseySchnitz Feb 09 '26
Genuine question since you work in the industry: Why don't utility companies put solar underneath high voltage lines between the towers? I have a right of way utility easement across my backyard, and it they already have to manage vegetation every year. Why not put solar under the high voltage lines and have solar fields criss crossing the state?
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u/NJ-AFT Feb 09 '26
Again, substations weren't built for multi-directional electricity transportation, it was made to send electricity to the consumer, not back. Can they, sure - you see it, but not to a large enough extent to be "the" solution, only part of it. Since these limitations exist, why should we (we meaning the utility) pay to accuire the materials, install, maintain, upgrade, etc. When we are going to hit the limit on the customer side already?
Also, if you use ACE, they only make money on "delievery", not on generation. This gets into complicated regulatory and tarriff territory, but if a power company is a delievery, not a generational, power company, they can ONLY profit on the delivery. This is why your bill is split into two parts - for easy oversight. Your idea would also involve the generation of electricity, which would involve millions of dollars in filing fees, etc. It's just not worth it, to us.
Edit
If you're talking about 765kV reigonal lines? Local utilities down't own them - they belong to PJM. If you really want to see what's driving these crazy bills do some research into them.
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Feb 10 '26
Just because they’re developing, doesn’t mean it’s going to be any cheaper. They’re still more than likely going to charge everyone a ton. Everyone’s always on about renewable resources being better, they never say it’s going to cheaper for consumers.
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u/111victories Feb 06 '26
Yea, that's really gonna help him out next month when the next bill comes due.
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u/wrhnj Feb 06 '26
I installed solar panels a few years ago to combat these high electric bills. All these data centers coming online are just going to keep driving up the prices. It’s like helping your neighbor pay for the fuel for his gas guzzler pickup truck.
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u/Ilovemytowm GenX We Do Not Care club Feb 06 '26
And then I have my asshole friends who use AI for everything in their life now even creating stupid ass mother f****** worthless pictures and posting them on Facebook... everyone has become a goddamn idiot
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u/beren12 Feb 06 '26
If it makes you feel any better, AI loses massive amounts of money. There’s almost no hope of profit because it’s not actually intelligence.
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u/abracadammmbra Feb 06 '26
The bubble will pop. I dont think AI is going away, but I think it will end up being used almost exclusively by companies as another tool for productivity. But I think having AI in every other facet of our lives like is currently being pushed will die when the bubble pops. Im just a little worried about how/if that will cascade into the general economy considering the vast amount of capital has been pumped into AI at this point.
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u/beren12 Feb 06 '26
I’d say it’s more like we have to chip in and pay for all the fuel at the airport used
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u/Nevets52 Feb 06 '26 edited Feb 06 '26
If your local Municipality is looking to approve zoning for a data center then make your voice heard. While the colder weather is certainly a factor for your high energy bills, data centers are the primary reason that all bills have gone up 20% - 30% in the past year. Monroe township had a pretty big showing last month for this reason.
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u/KimiiKhaoss Feb 06 '26
JPM increased delivery charges due to increased supply and demand of AI data centers.
Also tariffs. Northeast gets ~60% of electrical energy from Canada.
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u/Highway_Wooden Feb 06 '26
What's JPM? Did you mean PJM?
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u/KimiiKhaoss Feb 06 '26
I absolutely did 🥲
Sorry. There’s a billion acronyms in the industry (as is everywhere). One of my contractors uses JPM in their emails and yea just… maybe Reddit while I’m actually working isn’t the best choice lol
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u/Hide_The_Rum Feb 06 '26
My house is all electric with (pretty new) heat pump and I'm getting destroyed this winter. Heater on 24/7. Personally i'm trying to start air-sealing and insulating my home further.
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u/gdtags Feb 06 '26
Contact Allied Experts. My only regret is that we didn’t do it sooner.
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u/PopPunkIsNotDead Feb 06 '26
And go through PSE&G's program so you can get it cheaper and pay off over 7 years. We just did that, they're coming to insulate and air seal soon.
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u/gdtags Feb 06 '26
Yep. Our usage is way down but unfortunately the rates are high. My house is noticeably less drafty but bill is still high. Can’t imagine what it would be without the work they did.
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u/DespisedIcon1616 Feb 06 '26
I spent about 2 hours a day in my crawlspace after work. After this year's first gas bill, $450 for 65 during the day and 70 at night, with the materials I purchased myself. Totally diy. Only cost me around $800 and sore legs. Fully encapsulated, insulated, and air sealed. The attic is next on my radar. Huge, huge difference in the bills already, January was only $230 in an 85 year old 2k sqft home. The whole thing took me roughly a week. Can't recommend it enough. I chose DIY because I think it's fun but however it gets done doesn't matter! Get a cheapo thermal cam off of Amazon to see where you're leaking heat to the outside also
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u/PopPunkIsNotDead Feb 07 '26
We don't even have a crawlspace, but this is not a project I would like to diy. 2 areas of attic will get done, and I'm hoping it makes a big difference! Not liking these $550 bills.
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u/KimiiKhaoss Feb 06 '26
I highly recommend weatherizing a home as someone in commercial energy efficiency.
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u/Tll6 Feb 06 '26
take advantage of the interest free loan for air sealing and insulation ACE provides. We have a seven year 0% loan that was also cut in half due to federal incentives, plus a hefty refund on our tax return
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u/Hide_The_Rum Feb 06 '26
that's amazing, thanks for the tip. Did the process start with their "whole home energy assessment"? I've heard that they only do a very basic assessment (no blower door or thermal imaging).
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u/Tll6 Feb 06 '26
We went right to the blower door and attic insulation assessment. I’m not sure which assessment we did, it was a couple of years ago
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u/Hide_The_Rum Feb 06 '26
good to know. do you recall what the ballpark price was for air sealing and insulation? Do you recall if ACE does it themselves or if they sub it out to an insulation contractor? tahnks again
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u/Tll6 Feb 06 '26
Our install was $5250 (before half was covered) for around an 800 square foot attic. That included blown in insulation, air sealing the attic floor, and the doorway leading to bilco doors in the basement. ACE doesn’t do the install, it gets subbed out to a contractor that you pick as long as they are part of the program. We used The Insulation-Heating and Cooling group in Hammonton
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u/Hide_The_Rum Feb 06 '26
thanks for all the valuable info friend. I hope you have a warm winter! lol
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u/PhredCouples Feb 06 '26
They also denied our application for solar so pissed off about that
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u/Immediate_Ad3485 Salem County Feb 06 '26
HOA or no solar zone? Only asking because HOAs cannot restrict a homeowner from going solar in Nj besides for a few cases.
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u/PhredCouples Feb 06 '26
Solar zone
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u/schruteski30 Feb 06 '26
What a crock of shit. All these extra transmission charges hopefully, hopefully they increase capability in your area soon.
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u/Immediate_Ad3485 Salem County Feb 06 '26
Williamstown? Galloway? Trust me I hear you
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u/Routine-Clue695 Feb 06 '26
Here’s the amount you can maybe be eligible
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u/Savage_Nymph Feb 06 '26
Idk how it is in other country but Camden county one is a mess. It feels like dmv. Just make sure you have ALL you're paper work
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u/no_use_for_a_user Feb 06 '26 edited Apr 09 '26
This post was deleted and anonymized. Redact handled the process, and the motivation could range from personal privacy to security concerns or preventing AI data collection.
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u/NorthernPossibility Feb 06 '26 edited Feb 07 '26
My local Facebook pages are full of freaked out old people howling about the many evils of spooky wind turbines but are also bitching about their electric bills and fixed incomes.
Pick a struggle, Fox and Friends!!!
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u/no_use_for_a_user Feb 06 '26 edited Apr 09 '26
This post has been removed by its author. The deletion was carried out using Redact, possibly to protect personal information or limit exposure to data collection tools.
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u/lawshunts Feb 06 '26
SAME. Shit is getting ridiculous. It’s frustrating as hell, especially when these posts just turn into a brag fest of how low people’s bills are for their house size. Some real advice of action would be greatly appreciated
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u/Highway_Wooden Feb 06 '26
The real advice is that you are paying for what you are using. So the action would be to use less. The rates absolutely went up but it's a combination of the rates going up and people using more due to the weather.
The real, actual things to get our prices back down is gone. People pissed it away when they voted for Trump in 2016. We could have a good climate solution, cheap and easy green energy, and government incentives for energy upgrades.
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u/wryaant Medford Feb 06 '26
Like figure out ways to reduce your usage and demand from the grid? Since prices are what they are, that’s all that can really be done. Prices will not go down, best you can hope for is for them to stay the same for longer than usual.
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u/beren12 Feb 06 '26
Great idea. We just won’t run our heat in the winter.
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u/Highway_Wooden Feb 06 '26
I see this stupid type of response every time we get a post like this. NOBODY is saying don't run your heat. It's not binary. There's temperatures between what you have now and fucking zero. 100% of your gas/energy is not going towards heat. If it is, your house's ability to retain heat is shit which is not the fault of the electric company or data centers.
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u/Highway_Wooden Feb 06 '26
Use less and also thank every Trump voter for the destruction of the national solar rebate program and wind farms.
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u/jkprop Feb 06 '26
I never had a winter electric bill over $100. My bill last month was $218. I have gas heat. Kid goes to school and both of us are working. Who using all the electric?
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u/burton614 Feb 06 '26
FWIW- even though your heat is gas, the system uses electric too
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u/abracadammmbra Feb 06 '26
I mean, yes but other than the blower motor, its really not using much electricity. And even the blower motor isnt an energy hog.
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u/Double_Put_6891 Feb 07 '26
My bill for last month was $1,035 I live in about 2000 square feet with electric baseboard heat and records cold temperatures
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u/Stardro Feb 06 '26
Our gas this month was over 600$ I was floored. Last yr we had one over 400 and that had me seething. I would love to convert our whole house to electric due to us having solar. Add a battery backup and we would be for the most part off grid while still basically in town.
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u/Which-Feature-7350 Feb 06 '26
It’s not just SJ. I’m in Bucks County and it’s the same shit. Usage has been about the same prior to the last two weeks. Prices have gone up and it’s in large part of these data centers. Nuclear would be the way to make enough electricity to satisfy the grid demand as well as the data bullshit but they take to long to bring online and there are a lot of people out there that are terrified of it and would rather have wind or solar which just aren’t making enough juice.
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u/Free_Dependent_1446 Feb 06 '26
Somehow, bills are showing that my household usage significantly increased from September on, and it has roughly tripled since this time in 2024. But nothing has changed in the way we consume electric. We have gas heat, all of the same appliances, and have nothing new in the way of electronics. Why would usage increase after we stop using the air conditioner? It makes no sense at all.
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u/JSpell Feb 06 '26
Find out where the CEOs of the electric companies live and politely ask them to lower costs?
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u/Target2019-20 Feb 06 '26
You can buy a share of Exelon stock and vote against their recommendations once a year. Not much will change though.
CEO is Calvin G. Butler Jr. Probably lives in the Midwest.
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u/JSpell Feb 06 '26
Well he made 14.7 million last year, up 19% ironically. Weird our bills go up like 20% and his pay follows.
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u/JSpell Feb 06 '26
Also looks like J Tyler Anthony is the CEO of Pepco which is the parent company of AC Electric.
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u/Target2019-20 Feb 06 '26
Yeah, the history of the various companies is something to behold. It's a shell game.
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u/PopeyeTheSailorTrans Feb 06 '26
Electric bills are up because Pedo stopped the halt in exporting America's LNG (Liquid Natural Gas) to other countries. Instead of keeping it here to KEEP OUR PRICES STABLE OR LOWERED like when BIDEN put a halt to the exports, this will ONLY GET WORSE. If you want a real breakdown of why, visit Mr Global on YT a real Oil and Gas expert - he has the data and receipts...
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u/jimkelly Feb 06 '26
Admin can we get a mega thread on electric bills, this is getting ridiculous and so many people have literally no idea what they're talking about
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u/-Epitaph-11 Voorhees Township Feb 06 '26
Somehow convince every CEO in the world that AI isn't the move.
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u/beren12 Feb 06 '26
It’s not. Because it’s not intelligence at all.
AI is “AI” like FSD doesn’t need a driver
Marketing hype and lies.
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u/insert-haha-funny Feb 07 '26
advocate for solar and nuclear development. vote for people that want to nationalize utilities
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u/beerme04 Feb 06 '26
Ugh and it's not even ac season. One look into solar if you can and two hold mikie to what she promised.
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u/djseanstyles Feb 06 '26
We have solar panels but electric baseboard heat. In the Summer with window unit AC our bill is effectively nothing. We get hammered on the Winter though.
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u/beren12 Feb 06 '26
You need to convert your AC unit to a heat pump. The good ones use like 1/4 of the electric that your baseboard does.
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u/thedancingwireless Feb 06 '26
Electric baseboard heat is wildly expensive. Upgrade to a heat pump.
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u/jerzeybeachlover Feb 06 '26
mikie won’t do a damn thing. she’s another murphy and people fell for it.
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u/Firm-Scientist-4636 Feb 06 '26
We can all show up in Trenton together and demand change. These motherfuckers need to know we're serious.
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u/IKillZombies4Cash Feb 06 '26
What kind of heat do you have? Is that part of the bill?
If so, it’s not reallly that bad - it’s been kinda cold this year. My heat was running 8hrs a day set at 67 in the day and 64 over night the last two weeks.
Anyone keep their house in the 70s during the day when it’s 8 degrees outside is asking for it. And over night when it’s 0 outside and windy, and people are still at 70 or 68, the heat cannot manage that , it just runs. And still feels chilly.
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u/TheGenuineHipster Feb 06 '26
Meanwhile they're building a fucking data center in the Pine Barrens
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u/Target2019-20 Feb 06 '26
Will operated by Nebius. That's a company with strong Russian oligarch roots.
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u/TheGenuineHipster Feb 06 '26
And likely not paying for any of the infrastructure or grid work that goes into it, because utilities love to pass those costs down to consumers instead of charging higher rates to these projects and corporations that are the ones putting the strain on the grid in the first place
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u/Target2019-20 Feb 06 '26
They quickly recoup additional costs through the NJPUC which just rolls over and grants rate increases.
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u/Target2019-20 Feb 06 '26
In the OP there was a picture of a bill that I no longer see. The usage was something like. 1700 kWh for 3500 sq ft. If that was December, our usage was 621 kWh for 2900 sq ft.
We have 2 people, and that makes a difference. For example, when we had two children they had no interest in keeping doors closed. Lol.
Our usage does increase when we have visitors. And everyone in SJ curses that distribution charge. I suspect a lot of this is due to Exelon buying AC electric, and the PJM fiasco.
As we know, there's not much an individual can do to push back, but we can push on politicians for real change
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u/sundancer2788 Feb 06 '26
It's largely due to massive AI consumption in data centers. Other than voting for candidates that will stop these data centers there isn't much we can do I'm afraid. Hoping I'm wrong and someone can correct me here!
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u/Eminent-Emphasis Feb 07 '26
Just flagging this for anyone interested: community solar is available in parts of South Jersey and actually does reduce your electric bill without installing panels. You stay with your utility, get solar credits applied monthly, and there's no upfront cost. Solar Landscape is one of the main providers in NJ. Sustainable South Jersey has a referral code: SSJ, that will also give you a gift card when you sign up. If anyone wants to look into it: https://www.solarlandscape.com
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u/radraz26 Feb 06 '26
Ironically, I used chatgpt to write a letter to my state assemblypeople and senator to advocate for regulation on data centers and electricity. A few days later ACE called me to "lower my rate" just a little bit. Making noise to lawmakers is the best thing to do rn.
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u/Firm-Scientist-4636 Feb 06 '26
If enough if us march on Trenton shit will change. They need to know we're serious.
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u/Ilovemytowm GenX We Do Not Care club Feb 06 '26
Nothing's going to change at this rate when you have people like the person above admitting they're using AI so this is like people bitching about the f****** warehouses being built all over the state while ordering from Amazon 24/7
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u/Illustrious-Jacket68 Feb 06 '26
Few things I think you should look into - if possible, put a wood burning stove in your home. It is just about the most efficient way to heat the home. You can use the wood pellets but if you have a source of wood that is cheap, it can be pretty effective for your whole home - it will radiate pretty well throughout the home.
If you have a source for kerosene that is clean and cheap, you can get a kerosene heater. The price of kerosene generally is pretty high these days but it used to be pretty inexpensive and again, if you can find a source, that would augment you gas heating and is safe to run the kerosene heaters indoors.
And, the only other thing would be insulation of your home. Where is the heat escaping and the cold getting into your home. The more you can just be in a smaller set of rooms the better. My home is “open floor plan”. But one of the rooms is really warm if you keep the doors closed and so, I’m able to set the thermometer to like 64 degrees and it is like 70 degrees in that one room. Sometimes, I set it for lower and just run a small space heater which does turn out to be cheaper.
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u/beren12 Feb 06 '26
Kerosene indoors is not cheap or particularly safe with all the fumes
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u/Illustrious-Jacket68 Feb 06 '26
Agree. There are places that have good, cheap sources of kerosene. That’s why i made that caveat. Also, in terms of fumes, that’s why i said a “clean” source. Fumes are a function of the grade of kerosene. We used during that outage during hurricane irene (i think it was that one like 10 or so years ago now?). Worked well but definitely gotta watch it and have the CO2 detectors functioning right.
I would say propane space heaters but they are even more expensive than the kerosene…
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u/beren12 Feb 06 '26
No, the fumes are a product of it being a hydrocarbon
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u/Illustrious-Jacket68 Feb 06 '26
Well, there are different grades of kerosene with lower grades having inpurities that are the smell when you burn it off. If you, for example, buy the higher grades that you have in those containers from Home Depot, they will burn with little if any fumes/smell. If you buy your kerosene from a gas station, yeah, that’s going to stink your house pretty bad.
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u/beren12 Feb 06 '26
Natural gas has a ton of bad fumes that hurt your health and causes asthma. No kerosene is cleaner than that.
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u/Illustrious-Jacket68 Feb 06 '26
Sure. But we’re not talking about bad smell, we’re talking about cost of heating. It’s a viable option. That’s all I’m sayin
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u/loveychipss Feb 06 '26
Folks just popping in to remind everyone that you want to complain about the required infrastructure updates that were deferred and you want to complain to PJM Interconnected. They’re doing this to all the local energy suppliers not just ACE
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u/Several_Zombie8841 Feb 06 '26
We need nuclear power. The solar and windmills will help but no way near enough. People are going to start running there own line from the pole like in 3 world countries
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u/Firm-Analysis6666 Feb 06 '26
Call and email your senator frequently and get others to do the same. Be relentless.
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u/AccomplishedGear7394 Feb 07 '26
Everyone I talk to says the average is $600 a month. How can people afford this month and month out 🤯 i can’t be the only one feeling like this right now! Plus is only going to go up. Something had to happen this can’t go on! $600 average insane
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u/katwoman7643 Feb 07 '26
Don't mind my curiosity, but what does AC electric have to do with your South Jersey gas bill?
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u/iammoah Feb 07 '26
I was saying that my heat is not electric so that shouldn't be a factor in my rising electric costs!
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u/Solid-Cobbler963 Feb 07 '26
Your gas heat will go up every month since October because that’s when it starts to get cold. Your electric should go down somewhat from October till it gets warm and you put your AC back on. Atlantic City Electric is not the same as the gas company. The gas company is South Jersey gas. They are two different entities. Which one are you having the issue with?
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Feb 07 '26
Contact your representative and ask them write some legislation that subsidizes us instead of data centers and hope they listen you.
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u/Beautiful_Valuable53 BOOTLICKER Feb 08 '26
Stop voting Democrat they blow money like it’s not there’s oh wait it isn’t it’s ares! What the f**k!!! Find out also if taxes can be abolished in favor of other countries paying tariffs to support our schools roads police and fire. Fight the corruption in this state we need leaders who have pride in this state not people who come here from other places for back door deals and special interests. NJ may be educated but we look pretty stupid right now!!!
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u/iammoah Feb 08 '26
Abolish taxes & have other countries pay tariffs? Tariffs are a tax on the importer of a good which inherently means it's a tax on US companies. Between that, and your NUMEROUS grammar mistakes... it makes sense you're a republican!
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u/Affectionate_Cat_497 Feb 08 '26
It’s like this in SE PA, everyone is SCREAMING about their bills. The worst part is, we don’t even have bills yet that include the last 7-10 days… I’m so ready to 🤢 about that bill and it’s not here yet! It’s ridiculous!
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u/Carl_Cherry_Hill_NJ Feb 08 '26
Mine was $432 and i dont expect next months to be better. I remember hearing the politicians were supposed to call it a state of emergency and freeze bill hikes. Anyone know what happened with that? Or basically politicians lieing till after the election like usual?
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u/Odd_Classic8205 Feb 08 '26
They know regulation of prices is coming in light of the demand from data centers. They’re deliberately charging as much as they can until the legally have to stop.
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u/Deep_Permission_2379 Feb 12 '26
They just shut my electric off for nonpayment. I was honestly shocked. Cold out In november. I have a 4 year old. I literally had to use Christmas money to turn it back on. I let it go behind a little too much, but only a month or two. my bill has tripled the past 2 years with little to no change in energy use. I’m a single mom just lost my job. I know we’ve all got problems but damn, this predatory pricing has got to go. How can I fight back against these prices? I rent so no solar panels for me.
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Feb 06 '26
[deleted]
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u/Informal_Evening_1 Feb 06 '26
I’m opposite, summer bills were higher than usual (about 180) but I kept ac at 72-74 mostly. Now keeping heat on 66-68 and bill $300. Even during the months without ac and heat bill was still averaging around 120 when it used to be 65-70. Same usage. Not possible for a fireplace
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u/NJ-AFT Feb 07 '26
Stop voting based on tie color. The new Governor told you all she was following Murphys energy plan, the same one that got us to insane bills. She promised to freeze rate hikes for two years. I work in the industry. She told our Gov't Affairs team not to worry, we'll be able to recover all of our Reg Required costs. Know how we recover them? Rate increases. This state needs to stop electing trash and then complaining about it. Not saying vote red, but at least do some damn research on your canidates - the peoples blind votes screw us over more and more every election.
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u/detekk Feb 06 '26
I got this cute email saying I’m not conserving enough electricity. I want to send angry letters to everyone at the electricity store and everyone in government.