Atlantic City Electric Basic Generation Service & rate increases

Basic Generation Service (current rate)

17.6¢/kWh

Effective July 15, 2026 (current) · last reviewed July 19, 2026

Estimate for comparison — confirm the current rate and all charges with Atlantic City Electric before acting. Not advice.

Next scheduled reset: October 1, 2026 · Annual BGS year (Jun 1) + summer/winter step Oct 1. Every utility's reset calendar →

Of the 3 New Jersey utilities we track, Atlantic City Electric's Basic Generation Service is the 2nd-lowest — the range runs from 15.2472¢ (Jersey Central Power & Light (JCP&L)) to 19.0735¢ (PSE&G). Compare all New Jersey rates →

The worth-it line: for a switch to save at least $10/month at ~750 kWh, a supplier offer must be a fixed rate below 16.27¢/kWh — with no monthly fee and no cancellation fee. Offers between 16.27¢ and 17.6¢ technically "beat" the Basic Generation Service but save too little to justify contract risk. The full math, all utilities →

Atlantic City Electric customer service & quick facts

The official ways to reach Atlantic City Electric for outages, billing, and account help. RateWatchdog is independent and not affiliated with Atlantic City Electric — these are the utility's own channels.

Customer service

1-800-642-3780

Mon–Fri 7am–7pm

Report a power outage

1-800-833-7476

Live outage map →

Pay your bill

Pay Atlantic City Electric bill online →

Verified June 15, 2026 · confirm on Atlantic City Electric's siteHere to check if your rate is too high? Jump to the audit ↓

Is Atlantic City Electric a monopoly? Can you switch?

For delivery, yes — it's a monopoly. Atlantic City Electric is the only company that runs the poles and wires to homes in its territory, so you can't pick a different company to deliver your power. That part is a regulated monopoly: Atlantic City Electric, owned by Exelon (Pepco Holdings), can only charge what the NJ BPU approves in a rate case.

The electricity itself, though, is open to competition. You can buy your supply from a third-party supplier, or do nothing and stay on Atlantic City Electric's default rate — the Basic Generation Service the NJ BPU oversees. Switching suppliers doesn't change who delivers your power or who you call during an outage; it only changes the supply line on your bill. And if a supplier is charging more than the Basic Generation Service, you can drop it and return to that regulated rate, usually within one or two billing cycles — no fee to the utility.

How often does Atlantic City Electric's power go out?

Federal reliability data, reported by the utility to the U.S. government. SAIDI is the average total time a customer is without power in a year; SAIFI is the average number of outages.

For Atlantic City Electric, major storms drove roughly 59% of 2024's total outage time — the gap between the two numbers above is weather the utility couldn't fully control.

On normal-day reliability, Atlantic City Electric is the 2nd-most reliable of the 4 New Jersey utilities we track — the range runs from 39 min (PSE&G) to 4 hr 15 min (Jersey Central Power & Light (JCP&L)) of typical-day outage time per year.

Source: U.S. EIA Form EIA-861, 2024 reliability data (IEEE 1366 standard), for Atlantic City Electric Co. eia.gov →

How often does Atlantic City Electric disconnect customers for nonpayment?

Utilities report this to the federal government. It counts residential service disconnected for unpaid bills. A high rate isn't proof of wrongdoing — it's shaped by local poverty, climate, and how strong a state's shutoff-protection rules are, as much as by the utility itself.

That's the 2nd-lowest disconnection rate of the 3 New Jersey utilities we track — the range runs from 1.3 per 100 (Jersey Central Power & Light (JCP&L)) to 4.8 per 100 (PSE&G).

Counts disconnection events — one household can be shut off more than once. From Atlantic City Electric's own filings to the U.S. EIA (Form EIA-112, Residential Utility Disconnections Survey), first collected for 2024. eia.gov →

Where your bill money goes: how Atlantic City Electric earns its profit

Because Atlantic City Electric is a regulated monopoly, its profit isn't set by competing for customers — it's set by regulators. The NJ BPU authorizes a target return on equity (around 9.5% to 10.5% for U.S. electric utilities) on the money it sinks into poles, wires, substations, and meters. It's a target, not a guarantee — a utility can earn above or below it — but a low-risk regulated monopoly reliably lands close. You pay that return back, plus the investment itself, through the delivery charge on every bill.

Atlantic City Electric is owned by Exelon. In 2024, Exelon reported about $2.5 billion in net income — its profit across all of the utilities it owns, not Atlantic City Electric alone. Source: Exelon's annual report (SEC Form 10-K, fiscal year 2024). SEC EDGAR →

That authorized return is set by regulators on the utility's investment — independently of how reliable the service is or how many customers are disconnected, the two measures above.