Are Your Gas & Electric Bills

Getting Higher and Higher and Higher and Higher

 

1        In August, PSE&G raised  gas rates by 10%

 

2        Rates are expected to go up again before the year is out by 15- 35%!

 

3)     The Chicago based Exelon Corp. wants to buy PSE&G.  If approved the deal will cost over $400 million in the first year and will not lower rates. Worse, it could mean big rate increases in the future because the combined company will own so much electricity supply that they will be able to reduce competition and control prices. 

 

In the meantime, utility companies are posting very healthy profits.  PSEG & EXELON’s top corporate brass are doing very well too.  Since agreeing to the buy out, they have reaped over $38 million in stock options and other compensation this year alone.

Say No to High Utility Rates

 

The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) sets electric and gas rates.  They are conducting a public hearing to hear our concerns about utility rates and what we think of the PSEG/Exelon buy out bid.  Let’s give them a piece of our minds and tell them we need lower rates and better service.

Tuesday, November 29, 2005

Cherry Hill Municipal Building

820 Mercer Street , Cherry Hill , NJ   08002

 

To let us know you’re attending and for transportation or more information contact

Juanita Howard at 856 966 3094 or via email at juanita@njcitizenaction.org

 

Exelon, PSE&G & New Jersey

Not Perfect Together

Especially When it Comes to Your Wallet, Reliable Service, Jobs

 and the NJ Economy

 

 

The Chicago-based Exelon Corporation wants to buy PSEG and create the largest electric company in the United States .  Not surprisingly, their Boards of Directors and top management claim the deal’s a good one.  We know it’s been good for the CEO’s and top execs. In just the last several months Exelon CEO John W. Rowe and his eight member senior executive team pocketed $20 million exercising their Exelon stock options.   Earlier this year, five top PSEG company executives netted more than $5.3 million selling their stock.

 

This is a Bad Deal for Consumers.  Although the company brass are making lots of money off the deal, and claim there will be savings, there are no plans to pass those savings on to consumers by lowering our prices.  Instead the companies claim the deal will cost $400 million in the first year alone, a tab that may be left to NJ ratepayers.  Combining PSEG & Exelon will create a huge company that will control at least 30% of our regional electricity market.  Increased market share in a deregulated market will give the company the ability to drive up prices for consumers, Enron-style.  Rising electricity and gas prices are already wrecking budgetary havoc on the two million customers served by PSE&G. 

 

The Deal Could Harm the Reliability of NJ’s Electric System.  Considering Exelon’s history of cutting investment in maintenance of transmission lines, the buy-out bid will likely harm the reliability of our electricity system, making us more vulnerable to brown and black outs.  After Exelon took over Philadelphia-based PECO in 2000, it reduced transmission maintenance by one-third.  Exelon’s cost cutting has also hurt customer service.  In 2003, PECO had the worst overall customer service rating out of 7 PA electric utilities.  We don’t need these practices in NJ.

 

Mergers and Acquisitions Result in the Firing of Thousands of Workers:  Since 1992, the number of full-time employees of investor owned electric utilities has decreased by 20%, costing tens of thousands of workers their jobs.  Right now, Exelon and PSEG are reporting that 1,400 jobs will be lost as a result of the buyout.  It is anticipated that Chicago based Exelon will also eliminate contracts with local NJ vendors, further eliminating jobs.  These cuts hurt New Jersey ’s economy as a whole.

 

The Exelon/PSE&G Buy-Out Bid Can Only Happen if it is Approved by the NJ Board of Public Utilities.

 

Tell Jeanne Fox, President of the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities to put New Jersey first and reject this deal.  Phone:  973.648.2013, 973.648.4195(fax)

 

For more information contact Juanita Howard at 856 966 3094  or juanita@njcitizenaction.org