‘Immediately and outright reject it’ — lawmakers take on JCP&L’s rate hike

I said earlier this week that "how dare you" felt like a fair reaction to JCP&L's rate hike request. Turns out three state lawmakers agree, and they're saying it a lot more formally than I did.

State Sen. Carmen Amato Jr., R-Ocean, Assemblyman Brian Rumpf, R-Ocean, and Assemblyman Gregory Myhre, R-Ocean, the Republican delegation representing the 9th Legislative District, which covers much of Ocean County including Manchester, sent a letter directly to Board of Public Utilities President Ben Hertz-Shargel this week, according to a report from NJBIZ. Their ask was blunt: "immediately and outright reject" JCP&L's proposed 8.8% rate hike.

Request includes deferred storm costs

When JCP&L filed its proposal on Aug. 7, the headline number was the $253 million increase in base distribution rates I wrote about last week, roughly $170 a year for the average residential customer. What's come out since is that the company is also seeking to recover an additional $476 million in deferred storm restoration costs, spread out over the next decade. Thankfully, it does not mean the 8.8% requested rate hike will increase, as JCP&L said the $476 million in deferred storm restoration costs is already "included in the bill impact."

SEE ALSO: JCP&L wants an 8.8% hike, a month after the blackouts. How dare you

The freeze promise is the real sticking point

The 9th District delegation's letter leans hard on a promise Gov. Mikie Sherrill made on her very first day in office.

During her January 20 inauguration address, she signed executive orders aimed at utility costs, including the rate freeze, telling residents directly, "I hope, New Jersey, you remember me when you open your electric bill and it hasn't gone up another 20%." The lawmakers argue this filing undercuts that promise before it's even finished doing its job, writing that approval "would further intensify the cost-of-living crisis confronting New Jersey residents, who are already struggling with the rising costs of essential goods and services."

The same delegation isn't just objecting; they've also introduced legislation that would let New Jersey residents claim a state income tax deduction for the sales tax and societal benefit charges already baked into their electric and gas bills, a smaller, more targeted form of relief than an outright rejection.

The BPU will now review JCP&L's filing and decide whether to approve it, reject it, or modify it. Nothing about this timeline has moved. But the pressure campaign against it clearly has, and it's coming from people who actually get a vote on it.

In response to our published article, JCP&L reached out to New Jersey 101.5 to reiterate that it has been "listening to our customers, regulators and elected officials."

"Affordability and reliability shouldn’t be an either-or choice, and that’s why this rate filing takes an out-of-the-box approach. The new rates would go into effect in 2027 and we would use tax savings and other regulatory funds to offset the impact of those increases on bills until 2028," JCP&L told New Jersey 101.5.

(Editor's Note: This article has been updated from an earlier version to correct an error made regarding the $476 million in deferred storm restoration costs.)