(TRENTON) – Assemblywoman Andrea Katz (D-Chesterfield) has mounted a full court press in her effort to address the exorbitant rate hikes that her district and the rest of New Jersey has recently seen.

“When I was running for my seat last year I knocked on thousands of doors and the thing I heard more than anything else was that people wanted the legislature to make New Jersey more affordable,” Assemblywoman Katz said. “It is up to us, as legislators, to do something because people can’t continue to pay more and it simply doesn’t have to be this way.”

The Assemblywoman announced she would be introducing legislation that would require the Board of Public Utilities (BPU) to consider affordability before they approve utility rate hikes.

“The BPU should have ratepayers and their pocketbooks in mind when they are making decisions about rate hikes. The recent hikes were astronomical and simply unaffordable for many people across the state,” said Katz.

Assemblywoman Katz recently sent a letter to the BPU requesting a legislative hearing along with some of her colleagues in the legislature.

“These rate hikes hurt middle-class families. I heard it from my neighbors and see it on my own electric bill. It is time for the BPU and utility companies to answer their questions and explain how we can avoid any more exorbitant rate hikes in the future.”

The Assemblywoman recently joined with another group of legislators releasing a statement to PJM, the grid operator in New Jersey. NJ is behind many other states in the region in connecting generating sources to the grid.

“We want to be very clear: prices in the region are going to rise because we somehow have a shortage of energy – while at the same time, every other region in the country is experiencing unprecedented growth in generation from mostly clean and renewable sources. New Jersey doesn’t have an energy problem, we have a mismanagement problem,” said Assemblywoman Andrea Katz.