U.S. Congressman Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5) is pushing back on utility price hikes impacting New Jersey families following a 16% hike in natural gas prices recently approved by the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU).
Gottheimer unveiled his “Lower Utility Prices Plan” in Fort Lee on Tuesday (Dec. 3), entailing new legislation and action to combat these higher prices.
“Thanks to the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU), many families got an early lump of coal in their stockings from their electric and gas providers. That lump of coal was a rate increase on their utility bills,” he said.
The policy adopted by the BPU last month will lead to more than half a million New Jersey Natural Gas customers see their annual bill increase by more than $240 on average, while more than 300,000 Elizabethtown Gas Company customers will pay almost an additional $100 annually. This bill increase occurred while New Jersey electricity bills are already 32% higher than the national average.
Gottheimer’s plan to lower utility prices in New Jersey first involves sending a letter to BPU and utility providers, pushing them to reverse their previous decision. Then, the congressman intends on proposing several pieces of legislation.
This includes the Energy Costs Relief Act, which would provide a refundable tax credit of $350 to reduce the impact of rising energy costs, the Know Your Rates Act, which would require energy companies to notify customers of higher bills following price hikes, and the Home Energy Assistance Tax Credit (HEAT) Act, which would double the maximum Energy Efficient Home Improvement Credit to $4,000 per year, allowing families to better upgrade their homes for greater energy efficiency.
“The bottom line: We can’t raise utility bills by sixteen percent when folks are already struggling. All across our state, I have heard the concerns — from families and small businesses saying: “I can’t afford my utility bills, I can’t afford rent, I can’t afford my healthcare or childcare,'” Gottheimer explained in Fort Lee on Tuesday. “To all our Jersey families who are struggling to pay their utility bills, our fight for affordability is just heating up.”
Gottheimer has previous worked to pass numerous pieces of legislation in Washington, including the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill and the Inflation Reduction Act, which have both seen hundreds of millions of dollars invested into electric grids and power generation, especially into clean energy technology. He also helped to pass the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, which saw $35 million in federal funding go back to help low-income families afford their electricity bills.