As more New Jersey residents are seeing higher utility bills, lawmakers are putting the Board of Public Utilities under the spotlight.
State Sen. Michael Testa (R-Cumberland) is the latest lawmaker to call for hearings centered on the BPU, which earlier this summer approved rate increases of 3-8% for some of the largest utility companies. Ratepayers statewide have reported much larger increases in their electric bills.
“I think that the BPU has been completely compromised because they are chasing this green energy dream,” said Testa. “Pursuing wind as hard as they did, I just don’t think that they were mindful of the fact that rates were going to eventually go up.”
U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-2nd) has also called for an investigation and mentioned the pursuit of offshore wind as a possible culprit in causing the larger utility bills.
Doug O’Malley, director of Environment New Jersey, disagrees, arguing that electric bills are due to the grid’s overreliance on fossil fuels.
“We get our energy from across the region, but we need to make sure the people that run our regional electric grid are actually looking into the future, and realizing we can’t keep investing in fossil fuels,” he said. “We need to make that investment not just because it’s good for the environment, but because it’s good for the grid.”
Brian Lipman, director of the Division of Rate Counsel, which represents ratepayers in cases when utilities want to raise rates, said some people could have higher bills because they’re using more electricity during a record-hot summer. He said regulators have also allowed power companies to raise rates to recoup the costs of upgrading infrastructure.
In a statement, BPU said, “The cost of generating electricity has changed, something that is not unique to New Jersey. Utilities purchase their electricity in the marketplace and there are different market mechanisms that impact the cost of electricity … After a particularly hot and humid summer, we encourage customers to compare their individual usage from month-to-month and year-to-year to determine if higher usage has caused an increase in their bill.”
