Jersey Central Power & Light gets go ahead for rate increase

Jersey Central Power & Light (JCP&L) got approval from the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) to increase its rates.

Even with the $94 million increase in its base rates, JCP&L customers will pay the lowest residential electric rates among New Jersey’s four regulated electric distribution companies.

The increase will fund investments to enhance service reliability and allow the company to recover costs incurred to restore power to customers following severe storms. Investments will include additional tree trimming and service reliability projects that will benefit customers by hardening and modernizing the electric system.

“This agreement helps us deliver on our commitment to keeping the lights on for our customers, enhancing service reliability and supporting the safe and timely response to power outages caused by severe weather events,” Jim Fakult, president of JCP&L, said. “To give families and businesses more time to adjust to the challenges created by the coronavirus pandemic, bills will remain unchanged in the near-term, and the new rates will be applied to bills in November 2021.”

When the new base rate is applied next November, a typical residential customer using an average of 768 kilowatt-hours (kWh) per month will see an increase of $4 for an average monthly bill of about $104. That comes out to an approximately four percent increase.

JCP&L, a subsidiary of FirstEnergy, serves 1.1 million customers in New Jersey.