BERKELEY – The Township Council filed a resolution in opposition to the proposed 7.5% increase in electricity costs by Jersey Central Power & Light.
At a recent council meeting, Councilman Keith Buscio brought up the increase and asked for a resolution from the governing body in opposition to the increase. This resolution is a letter that would be sent to involved parties, such as the Board of Public Utilities, which oversees rates.
Mayor Carmen Amato asked the attorney to file paperwork in opposition to intervene
JCP&L, a subsidiary of FirstEnergy Corp, applied to the BPU for a review of its rate, asking for a 7.5% increase, which would amount to an $8.45 monthly increase for the average residential customer.
“Our proposal balances our need to invest in a safe, reliable and modern grid while keeping rates affordable for our customers,” said Jim Fakult, president of New Jersey operations for FirstEnergy. “This plan keeps JCP&L’s rates the lowest in the state and offers additional assistance to our customers facing financial hardship.”
The last rate change was in 2020, the company said. Since then, there has been more than $794 million in investments to modernize and strengthen its electric grid. Improvements were made to sense outages and automatically transfer customers to an adjacent circuit. There were also upgrades to company substations in Monmouth, Ocean and Morris counties that provide for additional capacity and redundancy and expansion of a substation to accommodate significant growth in electric demand in Ocean County.
The proposed rate adjustment supports an approximately $185 million investment that strengthens the energy grid, enhances the customer experience and funds new low-income and senior citizen customer assistance programs.
The increased rate would provide a cushion for two new customer assistance initiatives. A Senior Citizens Discount Program would provide income-eligible seniors with a discount on JCP&L’s distribution charges averaging $15 monthly, applied as a credit on the monthly bill for their primary residence. In addition, an Energy Assistance Outreach Team will be created to increase awareness, education and participation in energy assistance programs available to eligible customers.
Other costs include $10 million per year to trim and remove trees that could fall on power lines. There’s a plan to replace outdated streetlights with more energy efficient ones with optional smart features. It would also include smart electric meters and an electric vehicle charging program.
The filing would also help recover costs from major storms such as Tropical Storm Isaias, the remnants of Hurricane Ida, 2021’s bow echo, Winter Storms Zeta and Elliott and other weather-related events.
JCP&L has taken steps to reduce this balance, such as applying proceeds from its sale of the Yards Creek Pumped-Storage Generating Facility.
