Major Announcement As NJ Residents Brace For Large Increase In Electric Rates

UPDATE: The plan has been met with criticism calling it a "pure political gimmick."

NEW JERSEY — Gov. Phil Murphy unveiled a series of executive actions on Wednesday that he said will help New Jersey residents manage electric costs ahead of a rate hike scheduled to begin on June 1.

The announcement comes two weeks after the state Board of Public Utilities (BPU) said it would require New Jersey’s four electric utility companies — Atlantic City Electric, PSE&G, Jersey Central Power & Light and Rockland Energy — to come up with plans to mitigate overall bill impacts to residential customers during high usage summer months.

The state also asked the utility companies to defer rate increases until later in the year during lower-usage months, as well as identify other opportunities to stabilize rates and provide cost-saving opportunities wherever possible.

RELATED: NJ Officials Seek Delay In Planned Electric Rate Hikes

Murphy's office said the filings were received by May 7.

“New Jersey ratepayers are preparing for an unprecedented increase in utility costs,” Murphy said in a statement. “While the utilities are not responsible for the rate increases, they have a responsibility to protect ratepayers. It’s clear that New Jersey’s four hometown electric utilities need to deliver more reasonable options."

In Wednesday's announcement, Murphy said he plans to build on his administration's previous efforts by implementing several additional measures to mitigate utility costs. Those measures include:

• Urging New Jersey’s electric utilities to voluntarily expand the Winter Termination Program, which prevents service disconnections in the winter months, to July through September. The state also urged utilities to suspend reconnection fees to a certain date past the summer peak usage months.
• Directing the BPU to evaluate all available funding and programming to stabilize utility bills.
• Directing the BPU to expedite opening another Competitive Solar Incentive Program Solicitation and Community Solar Energy Program Capacity Block by the end of 2025.
• Directing the NJBPU to open a new proceeding on resource adequacy. Within this proceeding, BPU will evaluate proposals to swiftly bring more generation online and continue to determine how the state.
• Identify policy opportunities to mitigate increased costs due to demand growth driven by data center proliferation in the PJM region.
• Evaluate proposals to swiftly bring more generation online as well as determine how the state can best achieve its clean energy objectives while keep costs to consumers as low as possible. Additionally, the state will evaluate whether New Jersey is best served by the regional capacity market administered by PJM Interconnection.

In February, the BPU announced that electricity costs would increase again this year for most New Jersey residents and small businesses. All four electric companies said they expected rates to increase between 17.2 and 20.2 percent as of June 1.

Brian Lipman, director of the New Jersey Rate Council, said the average customer will see their bill increase by more than $20 every month. The price increase will "have a substantial impact on New Jersey families and businesses, especially those least able to afford it," he said.

The increase came following the results of New Jersey's annual Basic Generation Service auction, which sets the price companies pay for electricity generated outside the state. Previously, the BPU pointed to rising demand and a stressed power grid as reasons for the cost increase.

PJM Interconnection operates the power grid used by New Jersey and 12 other states, along with the District of Columbia.

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The state has already taken several steps to help drive down electric costs for consumers.

Last year, New Jersey’s energy assistance programs provided approximately $295 million in assistance to more than 455,000 families, officials said. Additionally, the BPU unveiled the Residential Energy Assistance Payment (REAP) initiative, which disbursed over $48.7 million via a one-time $175 bill credit for over 278,000 qualifying households.

Last month, the BPU also approved a second REAP payment for consumers through the Fiscal Year 2025 New Jersey Clean Energy Fund true-up budget.