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Feb. 24 to March 2
There’s a Fee for That
The monthly bill from Atlantic City Electric has been generating a lot of outrage of late. The amount due keeps going up, and little is being done to stop the soaring cost.
Oh, we hear about payment plans, moratoriums on shutoffs, and now legislation moving in Trenton to have the electric company tell its customers when their usage is reaching certain designated levels that will result in high bills.
No one is actually doing anything to reduce the cost of electricity or even to halt its seemingly endless rise.
Through it all we see everyone pointing fingers and blaming the other guy. Politicians who supported a way-too-ambitious electrification initiative proposed by the governor and the DEP now blame Atlantic City Electric because it is easy to blame the guy who sends out the bill. Atlantic City Electric points to the many things it is doing to “help” its customers deal with rising electric costs. Everyone blames PJM Interconnection, the grid manager.
Yet picking up a random bill from a local residential user shows there are plenty of other things that are less often discussed impacting the amount we pay each month. In addition to the cost of generating electricity, using high voltage lines to transmit it to local utilities, and the cost of distribution to homes and businesses, there is another 15% of what you pay that goes to fund a number of initiatives set by the state.
You pay for the cost of meter reading, billing and accounting. You pay for the cost of developing the actual power supply contracts. You pay for energy conservation programs, the cost of decommissioning nuclear facilities, and programs to educate the consumer about why they pay what they pay. You pay for greenhouse initiatives, including decarbonization programs and incentives for installing heat pumps.
The Triennium 1 energy efficiency programs fee is ending June 1, but have no fear, it is being replaced by Triennium 2, so your bill will not miss a beat.
You even pay a fee to “reward” utilities for investing in energy efficiency programs.
Every one of those fees can be traced back to government decisions, not market dynamics.
Instead of looking closer to home, Trenton politicians are working on legislation that would use smart meters to guide us in using less electricity while every other program proposed by the state is aimed at electrifying more of our lives.
County Valuation Soars
This week Cape May County introduced the county budget for 2025. It shows a record-high spending level of $224 million. The tax levy, the actual amount the county will collect from taxpayers, is going down by just over $670,000, but in the context of so large a budget that decrease is less than one-half of 1%. The commissioners are lowering the county general tax rate by about 10%, but with county taxes, it is the levy that is the most important figure, not the rate.
The reason is that the county does not tax based on assessed value, but rather on “true value,” essentially market value, of property in each municipal jurisdiction. It is the estimated true value of real estate that drives the allocation of the county levy to each municipality and property. Where home values have risen the most, the county tax will be higher than in other county towns.
Here there was an eye-popping slide in the budget presentation made at the recent county commissioners meeting. The net true value of county ratables, separate totally from assessments, is listed in the presentation at $97.2 billion. That is up almost $10 billion from the 2024 valuation of $87.7 billion.
The county has not increased in size. It is still the same 250 square miles of land area. Yet the true value of real estate in 2025, at almost $100 billion, is 69% higher than it was in 2021, when it stood at $57.6 billion. This places some of the county’s municipalities among the richest in the state by land value.
But this is a rising tide that does elevate all property to some extent, even on the mainland communities. This news does not bode well for those whose goal is to significantly increase the number of homes available to working-class families.
Water Availability
Water, water everywhere. The U.S. Geological Survey has released a National Water Availability Assessment report. The study looks at water supply, demand and quality across the lower 48 states. The assessment report is accompanied by the National Water Availability Assessment Data Companion, an online platform designed to provide access to data sets used in the assessment.
The USGS has also made a webinar on the report available to the public. A number of interactive maps highlight information pathways for members of the public who want to drill down into the vast array of data. The Geological Survey presents key findings for easy public access.
The fundamental question asked first in most Q&A sessions is “Do we have enough water?” The overall answer from the report is yes, but it is not evenly distributed. Close to 30 million people in the lower 48 states find themselves in areas of high or severe water limits. These areas tend to be in the central and western parts of the country.
The big three areas of use for water are crop irrigation, thermonuclear power and what the report calls public supply, our use of water in our daily lives at home, work and school. Sufficient water supply is a major issue, but so is the quality of that supply. Here the focus is on stormwater management, contaminants runoff and other threats to water quality.
The Northeast is one area of the country that largely has sufficient water availability. But climate change-induced drought can have a significant negative impact even here.
The report, the webinar and the data companion present extensive access to levels of detail on the country’s water issues.
Week in Review
*As the SS United States embarked on its last voyage last month, to the coast of the Florida panhandle, where it will become the world’s largest artificial reef, a tugboat captain from Upper Township became a small part of the vaunted ship’s history.
*Cape May has joined those county towns taking aim at controlling plastic dust and microplastic debris at demolition and construction sites.
*Replacement of the Grassy Sound fishing pier, on what is left of the old Grassy Sound bridge from Middle Township to North Wildwood, is expected to be completed by May or June.
*The Lower Township Police Department is trying to identify the person or persons responsible for vandalizing with graffiti the public restroom at Lincoln Boulevard and Shore Drive in North Cape May.
*The Feb. 15 fire district elections saw incumbents win most races unopposed, with half the races having a turnout of fewer than 100 voters.
*Leslie Gimeno, who worked for Cape May County for 31 years, was honored by the Board of County Commissioners for her years of service to the county as planning director.
*Ocean City Mayor Jay Gillian presented a five-year capital plan to the public Feb. 22 that calls for $67.6 million in capital spending over the next five years.
*Just weeks after Shell plc pulled out of the Atlantic Shores joint venture to produce 2,800 megawatts of electric power from offshore wind, its partner, the French energy giant EDF Group, announced it is taking a 940 million euros write-down in the value of the project.
*The Wildwood Crest commissioners have introduced the borough’s 2025 budget, which shows a tax rate increase of less than one cent.
*A Middle Township man shot himself in the foot as he fired a gun inside a car belonging to the parents of his former fiancé, a Lower Township Police Department report said.
*The case of Middle Township teacher Laura Caron, who is charged with the sexual assault of a student, has been sent to a grand jury, according to court records.
*A visit from the commissioner of New Jersey’s Department of Transportation confirmed something that county leaders had long suspected: Route 55, a state road that serves as the main entry point into Cape May County for Philadelphia visitors, will not be extended past its current end point in Port Elizabeth.
*The historic Whitebrier bar and restaurant on 21st Street in Avalon is under agreement of sale to Philadelphia’s Union League.
*A conference at Rowan University’s Sweeney Center brought together a number of state energy policymakers and suppliers to consider the state’s future energy needs at a moment when much of the work done to transform the state’s energy portfolio is under threat.
*Avalon has been invited to join the national board of directors for the American Coastal Coalition, a nonprofit founded in 1996 to advocate for the unique needs of coastal communities.
*The Cape May County Herald has won 16 awards, including seven for first place, in the New Jersey Press Association’s annual contest for weekly newspapers, for work done in 2024.
Spout Off of the Week
Cape May Beach – I’m not an engineer but I’ve seen beaches come and go long enough to know that moving sand towards the water is a HUGE waste of time. And money.
