JCP&L Rate Hike Hearings Wednesday

The state Board of Public Utilities is scheduled to hold a pair of hearings on Wednesday on a proposed rate increase for Jersey Central Power & Light (JCP&L).

The first meeting is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. at the Freehold Township Municipal Building, at Schanck and Stillwell Corner roads. The second meeting is set for 6:30 p.m. at the same location.

The utility company, roundly criticized for its response during Hurricane Sandy and the nor’easter that followed, wants a rate increase of 4.5 percent in its effort to raise $603 million the company says it needs to repair infrastructure damaged in hurricane’s Sandy and Irene.

The company faces opposition.

"We will speak for the hundreds of ratepayers who are tired of paying more for less service," said Assemblywoman Amy Handlin, R-Monmouth, in a release.

"This proposal to take about $85 more per year from hard-working families lacks credibility because JCP&L has yet to answer very serious charges of pocketing corporate profit instead of investing in the improvements that would have made our service more reliable and our rates more tolerable," she said.

Handlin, along with Assemblywoman Caroline Cassagrande, plan to speak at the hearings and present the BPU with a petition signed by 1,500 county residents opposed to the rate increase.

"After JCP&L literally left our communities in the dark and sent New Jersey ratepayers’ money to its parent company in Ohio, the utility is back with hands in our pockets," Casagrande, R-Monmouth, said. "We will make the case for thousands of hard-working families and businesses that JCP&L should not see one penny more from New Jersey ratepayers until it returns every dollar it pocketed for corporate greed."

Ocean County legislators have already expressed their opposition to any proposed rate hikes. 

"This increase will have a severe impact on our residents who were literally left in the dark in the weeks following Super Storm Sandy," reads a joint statement issued by 10th Legislative District Republican representatives Sen. Jim Holzapfel and Assemblymen Dave Wolfe and Greg McGuckin before an April 8 BPU hearing. "Expecting our residents to pay additional money to JCP&L during a time of recovery is appalling. Their request for a rate hike is not only unfair, it’s offensive

The legislators have introduced legislation which prohibits a public utility from filing for a rate increase when a utility company’s authorized rate of return is under scrutiny by the BPU, which they said JCP&L is after its 2010 earnings. 

"In light of suspicions that JCP&L overcharged ratepayers and following its disastrous response to the 2011 storms and continued poor performance in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy, the company’s request for a rate increase is unconscionable," the legislators said.