JCP&L Rate Hike Request Opposed by County

The Somerset County freeholders are unanimously opposed to JCP&L's request for a $31 million rate increase.

The board approved a resolution at its Tuesday meeting that says the hike isn't justified "due to JCP&L’s failure to properly respond to outages caused by Hurricane Sandy and Irene, along with the [2011] Halloween Blizzard and other storms, resulting in Somerset County residents being frustrated and dismayed by JCP&L’s poor communication and its overall lack of leadership and supervision of repair efforts that led to unnecessary delays and long response time.”

The state Board of Public Utilities will hold a pair of public hearings at 1:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. today in Freehold, during which Assemblywomen Amy Handlin and Caroline Casagrande opposed to a hike.

“There is no way JCP&L should be granted an increase until they rectify their storm-response procedures and public-communications issues,” said Freeholder Mark Caliguire, public health and safety liaison.

Following Sandy, Caliguire blasted JCP&L’s “abysmal” response to power outages in its Somerset coverage area, which includes Bernards, Bernardsville, Bedminster, Branchburg, Bridgewater, Far Hills, Green Brook, Hillsborough, Peapack-Gladstone, Warren and Watchung.

The resolution notes that the BPU petition process “allows for The New Jersey Rate Counsel to intervene in the process on behalf of Somerset County ratepayers and have their points of view heard by the BPU, including the right to demand that JCP&L undertake a local and state system-wide study to identify ways to improve their electric infrastructure and emergency response planning."