New Jersey utility companies will offer $30 reprieves on July and August power bills, state utility regulators said Wednesday as part of a plan to soften the blow of rising electric rates.
Customers will have to repay the $60 in deferred charges in the next six bills, but the companies won’t charge interest, the Board of Public Utilities said during a morning board meeting.
The deal, which comes through signed stipulations with utilities, could be viewed as a significant concession that gives other state regulators leverage to extract similar ones. New Jersey’s four electric utilities — PSEG, Exelon’s Atlantic City Electric, FirstEnergy’s Jersey Central Power & Light and Con Edison’s Rockland Electric Co. — all operate in other states that are also experiencing rising rates.
Utilities originally proposed plans that could have increased customers’ bills by lower rates during the high-use summer months, but then increasing them throughout the rest of the year with interest charges tacked on.
