Jersey Central Power and Light (JCP&L), a unit of FirstEnergy, requested a rate adjustment review by the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU). The utility said wants to make a $185 million investment to strengthen the energy grid, enhance the customer experience, and fund new low-income and senior citizen customer assistance programs.
If approved, a typical JCP&L residential customer using 780 kilowatt hours per month would see a 7.5% overall rate increase – or $8.45 monthly. JCP&L said its customers would continue to pay among the lowest residential electric rates among New Jersey’s four regulated electric distribution companies.
The utility said that since its last rate review in 2020 it has made more than $794 million in investments to modernize and strengthen its electric grid. These investments include the installation of devices that can sense an outage and automatically transfer customers onto an adjacent circuit, 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.
In addition, the rate review proposes the launch of 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 enhance the Company’s ongoing efforts to increase awareness, education and participation in energy assistance programs available to eligible customers.
The proposal also includes an increase of more than $10 million per year in the company’s budget to maintain trees located outside of rights-of-way that pose a threat to power lines. The funding would also allow removal of additional trees damaged by the emerald ash borer that are a potential threat to power lines.
The filing also includes the recovery of costs incurred by JCP&L from the impact of major storms, including 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.
Other items JCP&L want to do include a program to begin transitioning streetlights from sodium vapor lights to LED streetlights, with optional smart features that give municipalities more control of the fixtures. Costs associated with the transition to a new AMI (advanced metering infrastructure) system and JCP&L’s electric vehicle charging program, which are designed to support the state’s clean energy goals, are also included in the submission.
