NJ power company wants to raise your electric bill by $170 a year
⚡ JCP&L wants an 8.8% rate increase that would add about $14 a month to the average bill.
📅 The proposed hike would not hit 1.1 million NJ customers until January 2028.
🌳 JCP&L says it needs the money for grid upgrades and tree removal to prevent outages
A New Jersey power company wants to raise the average customer's electric bill by about $170 a year, even though Gov. Mikie Sherrill signed an executive order earlier this year to freeze electric rate increases.
On Friday, Jersey Central Power & Light said its proposal would give the company funding to make infrastructure improvements and cut down dead trees that cause outages.
According to JCP&L, the average residential customer would see an 8.8% increase to their monthly bill if the state Board of Public Utilities approves the plan. For a household using 767 kilowatt-hours, that's a $14.23 monthly hike — or around $170 a year. That generates a $253 million increase in base distribution rates.
JCP&L customers wouldn't see the increase until 2028
However, the proposal includes a significant delay for JCP&L's 1.1 million New Jersey customers.
If approved, the new rate hikes would not affect customers until January 2028. FirstEnergy power company officials said this would give customers more time to prepare for higher bills.
"Customers shouldn't have to choose between affordability and reliability. Our balanced approach puts both front-and-center simultaneously by minimizing the impact on bills today and giving customers time to plan," FirstEnergy New Jersey President Doug Mokoid said.
The filing comes nearly seven months after Gov. Mikie Sherrill froze rate hikes in an executive order signed during her first day in office on Jan. 20, 2026. Sherrill campaigned on the freeze after nearly every New Jersey resident faced rate hikes between 17% and 20% in 2025.
Her first executive order used existing state funds to offset electric rate increases that took effect in June. Similarly, JCP&L's proposed plan relies on offsets to prevent customers from feeling the impacts of a rate hike in 2027.
JCP&L faces scrutiny after summer outages
It's also only been a month since JCP&L was the focus of frustration after severe Fourth of July weekend storms caused widespread power outages. State lawmakers criticized the power company after thousands of its customers were last to get their lights back on.
According to JCP&L, the proposed rate hikes will increase reliability; the company says reliability has already improved 38% so far this year due to investments in modernizing the grid.
"While we've made progress over the past two years, we still have more work to do. When we invest, our customers benefit," JCP&L Vice President Patricia Mullin said.
READ MORE: Jamesburg house fire kills married couple, injures daughter
The company has said that it covers parts of New Jersey where it's heavily wooded, and that downed trees are responsible for many extended outages.
Diseased or dead Ash trees ravaged by the Emerald Ash Borer have been responsible for 60% of tree-related outages since 2020, according to JCP&L. More than 74,000 such trees have been removed since 2017.
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