NEWARK: In response to Governor Mikie Sherrill signing the NJ Power Act (A4881), New Jersey Citizen Action’s Executive Director, Dena Mottola Jaborska, in a press statement today, said:

"New Jersey families are already struggling to keep up with sky-high utility bills. We do not agree that Governor Mikie Sherrill’s signing of A4881 will deliver lower energy costs. We are concerned that this law could have the opposite effect and drive up electricity rates by committing NJ utility customers to a major investment in the most expensive energy source, nuclear power, with no limit on the amount utility customers could be made to pay.

“This bill runs directly counter to the Governor’s pledge of affordability. At a time when ratepayers have already faced more than a decade of utility rate increases, including a 50% increase for residential customers and a 20% spike in just the past year, A4881 gives the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (NJBPU) a blank check to pass even more costs onto families . Ratepayers are not ATM machines and cannot afford the rate increases that this bill would permit the NJBPU to pass onto them.

“While the Governor has emphasized protecting ratepayers and ensuring a transparent review process, A4881 still authorizes a financing framework that could burden utility customers with a major rate increase. Instead, the Governor and the NJ Legislature should pursue financing models that protect consumers rather than relying on utility customers to bankroll more than they can afford. As I mentioned in my op-ed last month, energy-intensive data centers expanding across the region can afford to pay for the generation needed to support their massive demand while also strengthening the state’s energy supply and protecting residents and placing costs where they belong. In addition, the state should explore other, alternative financing for energy infrastructure and end our overreliance on utility customers.”

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New Jersey Citizen Action is a statewide advocacy and empowerment organization that fights for social, racial and economic justice for all.