NJ utility customers get a break on bills this summer but there’s a catch – NJ Top News

Here are the top stories on NJ 101.5 for Thursday, June 19, 2025

⬛ Police investigate homicide: 91-year-old beaten to death in Jersey City

JERSEY CITY — A 91-year-old city resident was beaten to death, homicide investigators said.

Jersey City police were called to a five-story apartment building at 2554 Kennedy on June 9 to check on the man.

Responding officers found the elderly victim, An Quan, of Jersey City, in “medical distress.” Quan was taken to Jersey City Medical Center, where he died on June 14.

On Monday, the Regional Medical Examiner’s Office determined he was killed in a homicide involving blunt force injuries.

As of Wednesday, no arrests had been made, Hudson County Prosecutor Esther Suarez said.

⬛ NJ utilities lowers customers' bills this summer, but there's a catch

Electric rates in the Garden State went up by nearly 20% this month. To help ratepayers budget around the increase, the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities has approved a deferral program for everyone, but there’s a catch.

The four major electric companies in the state, PSE&G, JCP&L, Atlantic City Electric, and Rockland Energy, have agreed to shave off $60 from customers’ bills during the summer months at a time when power is in high demand. That’s $30 off in July and $30 off in August.

But the money will have to be paid back. This is just a credit. Customers will have to pay the money back in monthly $10 increments between September and February.

The plan also includes utility shut-off protection through September 30th. Plus, 144,000 households will see financial assistance increase through the state’s universal service fund program.

⬛ Prison for NJ off-duty cop who killed man in drunken wrong-way crash

A 42-year-old man who was an off-duty police sergeant at the time he killed a victim in a wrong-way crash has been sent to prison for a short term.

Keith M. Gunther, of Wanaque, was sentenced by Superior Court Judge Stephen Taylor to five years in state prison for the death of 55-year-old Paterson resident, Hamid Shabuddin.

Gunther pleaded guilty in April to second-degree reckless vehicular homicide, third-degree assault by auto and driving under the influence.

⬛ NJ man, pretending to be cop, pulled over wife’s paramour and killed him, police say

HOWELL — Police say a jealous husband went as far as using police-style lights to fake a traffic stop, creating the chance to execute the man he believed was sleeping with his estranged wife.

Mejia was found dead in a car parked on Winter Street. Police found two 9 mm shell casings inside the car, according to the affidavit filed by investigators in Monmouth County.

According to investigators, Mejia sat inside his silver Toyota RAV 4 in the parking lot of a Wawa store during the evening of June 4, talking to Yanza's estranged wife, a woman he was involved with romantically but was trying to break things off. After an hour, Mejia left the Wawa but continued talking on the phone.

Mejia ended the conversation and told the woman a police officer had pulled him over, so he had to hang up for fear of getting a ticket, investigators said.

⬛ First trailer for Springsteen biopic is released

The first trailer has been released for the Bruce Springsteen biopic, "Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere."

The film stars Jeremy Allen White as The Boss. It's based on the book, "Deliver Me from Nowhere: The Making of Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska," by musician Warren Zanes, and details Springsteen's time making the 1982 album, "Nebraska."

The movie will be released in theatres around New Jersey and nationwide on Oct. 24.

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