What a bill actually separates
An electric bill has 2 halves that most customers never separate in their head. The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities, the state regulator for electric and gas prices, says every energy bill splits a supply portion from a delivery portion. Supply is the price of the electricity itself. Delivery is the price of moving that electricity over wires to a home, plus a group of smaller fees riding along with it. A New Jersey law called the Electric Discount and Energy Competition Act created this split. It lets a resident shop for a different company to supply the electricity, while the same utility still delivers it over the same wires no matter who is chosen.
The one real bill
Public Service Electric and Gas, the utility serving much of New Jersey, publishes a full sample residential bill with every line item filled in. The sample customer used 756 kilowatt hours over a 29 day billing period ending June 30, 2026. Delivery charges came to 74.76 dollars, a 6 dollar flat monthly service charge plus a rate per kilowatt hour used. Supply charges came to 145.68 dollars, a separate rate per kilowatt hour. The 2 add up to 220.44 dollars, the full bill. Delivery is 34% of that total and supply is 66%.
Show the numbers
| Delivery | 74.76 |
| Supply | 145.68 |
What is folded into each half
The delivery rate paid per kilowatt hour is not just wires. It adds together 9 separate charges, a base distribution charge plus 8 more, including conservation programs, solar and other green energy programs, a zero emission certificate charge, a tax credit, and a charge left from the coronavirus period. The supply rate adds together only 2 charges, a basic generation service charge for the electricity itself and a separate transmission charge for moving electricity from where it is generated to the local wires. Adding those 2 supply charges for the first usage tier on this bill comes to about 19.07 cents per kilowatt hour, close to what the bill actually charges for supply.
Is this bill typical
The 756 kilowatt hours on this bill covers 29 days, which scales to about 783 kilowatt hours over a 30 day month. That sits below the 899 kilowatt hours a typical American home used in a month in 2022, the most recent year published. This bill is not an unusually large one. If anything, it runs a little lighter than average.
The Hawaii and Louisiana figures divide each state yearly average by 12. The one bill figure comes from source 1, scaling its 29 day billing period up to a 30 day month.
Show the numbers
| Hawaii, the lowest state average | 515 |
| This one bill | 783 |
| The typical American home | 899 |
| Louisiana, the highest state average | 1,231 |
New Jersey overall pays more for electricity than most states. Its average retail price, blending every customer and fuel used to generate it, is 16.29 cents per kilowatt hour, the 12th highest of any state.
Why the supply price moves every year
The supply half resets once a year through an auction the state regulator runs, setting the price every New Jersey utility must pay for the electricity itself. Results certified in February 2026 took effect June 1, 2026, moving prices by different amounts at each of the 4 New Jersey electric utilities. The change cut the typical monthly bill at Public Service Electric and Gas by 3.23 dollars, 1.8% lower, while raising bills slightly at 2 of the other 3. The president of the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities said that keeping electricity affordable for New Jersey customers is the top priority, using every available tool to hold down costs under Executive Order Number 1, issued by Governor Sherrill.