In a move to lessen the blow of sharply rising electricity prices, the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities approved a proposal from Atlantic City Electric that defers to the fall $60 in electricity bill payments due from the high-usage summer months.
The utility will add a deferral credit for $60 for all customers, covering July and August. The deferral credit will have to be repaid interest-free over a defined period of time after the summer season.
Meanwhile, qualifying low- and middle-income customers of Exelon utilities, one of which is Atlantic City Electric, could receive up to several hundred dollars in relief for their electricity bills, according to Exelon.
The company is creating a $50 million electricity bill relief fund that customers from all six of its utilities can tap during the heavy summer usage months of July and August.
At the BPU meeting June 18 at which the $60 credit was approved, agency officials said Atlantic City Electric has gone beyond the summer bill credit. The company will suspend service disconnections for nonpayment for eligible customers from July through September, waive fees for already disconnected customers who are seeking to restore service during that period, and offer longer repayment terms, up to 24 months, for residential customers.
The announcement comes after Gov. Phil Murphy pledged $430 million in state funds to ratepayers to temporarily ease the burden of the soaring rates. The state funding comes in the form of a nonrepayable grant to ratepayers, with $100 for each utility account holder. Murphy said he did not yet have the details, but that the funds are likely to be distributed in September.
The moves are the result of a scramble among state officials and utilities to deal with the impact of electricity power capacity auctions that have driven up supply costs of power as much as ninefold in the one year between auctions. On June 1 new supply rates for Atlantic City Electric customers rose more than 17% since rates last increased in June 2024.
Ratepayers will see some relief from the combined effect of the state and utility funding of summer credits, but the new, higher rates for power will still be in effect when the short-term relief funding ends.
BPU Commissioner Zenon Christodoulou said before the vote that this action to provide temporary relief only makes sense if officials use the intervening months to educate the public to “help themselves” by using less power. He saw little that was going to result in lower rates in the short term and felt customers must learn to use less electricity if they want to reduce their bills.
Exelon’s $50 million relief fund, according to the company, “is a temporary one-time assistance program designed to help manage the impact of rising energy supply costs as demand increases and supply is not there to meet it.” Exelon CEO Calvin Butler says the fund is evidence of “Exelon’s commitment to our communities.”
Exelon says it will make a $50 million charitable contribution to a series of “trusted community nonprofits” who will in turn help customers. Details regarding the administration of the fund, including eligibility and disbursement of relief, “will vary by operating company,” meaning the process for Atlantic City Electric could be different from the process at one of the other five utilities for which Exelon is the parent company.
The selection of the nonprofit that will work with Atlantic City Electric on access to the relief dollars has not yet been disclosed. Exelon’s statement says customers are encouraged to visit the website of their local company, in this case Atlantic City Electric, atlanticcityelectric.com, for information on how to get funding.
