Electricity rates in New Jersey are going up. Artificial caps on electrical rates will be removed in September 2003. Rates are expected to rise over 10% and maybe higher, and to skyrocket in the years ahead. But, you can protect yourself from future rate increases by producing your own electricity with a wind turbine system.

The best part is the State will pay for over half of it!

The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU), under its' Clean Energy Program, provides a 60% cash rebate for qualified purchases of small wind systems. This is one of the best incentive programs in the country.

With the New Jersey BPU incentives, the payback may be in as little as 6-8 years! But, remember, you will be paying the money anyway - to the utility company. Financially, buying a home wind system is vastly superior to just purchasing all your electricity from the power company. It's like the difference between renting a home and buying a home. So, rather than calling it a "pay back period", it would be more accurate to call it a "payment transfer period". At the end you have free electricity

A small wind system will provide you with a return on your investment of 10 - 20% - tax-free - depending on your usage and wind resource. This is equivalent to a 14% - 28% return on a taxable investment! Compare that to 2% form a money market account, 5% from a long-term CD, or negative earnings from mutual funds over the last few years.

A small wind system really helps the environment! Over its minimum 30 year operating life, a residential wind system in New Jersey will save 430,000 pounds of carbon dioxide, 3,000 pounds of sulfur dioxide, and 1,000 pounds of nitrogen dioxide that would have been produced by the utility's fossil fuel power plants. It is the equivalent of planting 2 acres of trees or taking 1.25 vehicles off the road.

Modest wind resources are fine for small wind systems. Wind resources are sufficient in many parts of New Jersey. In some places they are excellent. The highest resource areas are found along the Atlantic Ocean and Delaware Bay coastal areas, and on the ridges of western and northwestern New Jersey.