NEW JERSEY — Jersey Central Power & Light has filed a new rate proposal with the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities that could eventually raise residential electric bills by nearly 9%, although the company says most customers would not feel the full impact until 2028.
JCP&L filed the base-rate case on August 6 under BPU docket ER26080420, requesting increases and other adjustments to its electric service rates. The proposal still requires review and approval by state regulators before any changes can take effect.
Under the plan, JCP&L is seeking approximately $253 million in additional base distribution revenue. Once temporary offsets expire, that portion of the proposal would translate into an increase of roughly 7% on customer bills.
The company is also seeking to recover approximately $476 million in previously deferred storm costs through a separate charge beginning in January 2028. JCP&L proposes spreading those storm-related costs over 10 years rather than recovering them over a shorter period.
What Would It Mean for a Typical Household?
If the full proposal is approved, JCP&L estimates the average customer’s total bill would eventually increase by approximately 8.5%, while residential customers would see an average increase of about 8.8%.
For a typical residential customer using about 767 kilowatt-hours per month, the company estimates a monthly bill currently around $162.30 would increase by approximately $14.23.
However, JCP&L is proposing offsets designed to prevent residential customers from immediately feeling the changes to base delivery rates during 2027. The larger impact would instead arrive in 2028, when those offsets expire and the separate storm-cost recovery charge begins.
JCP&L Says the Money Is Needed for Reliability
The company says the additional revenue would support investments in the electric distribution system, including work intended to improve reliability, resiliency and service for customers. JCP&L serves about 1.2 million customers across 13 counties in northern and central New Jersey.
The filing comes as JCP&L continues a separate infrastructure investment program known as EnergizeNJ, which involves hundreds of millions of dollars in upgrades to the utility’s distribution network. The BPU previously approved a settlement allowing approximately $935 million in investment over five years under that program.
This Is Not Yet a Final Rate Increase
The requested increase is not automatic. The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities must review the filing, and the process can include testimony, negotiations and public hearings before regulators decide how much, if any, of the requested increase will be approved. JCP&L’s own regulatory page notes that customer comments submitted during public hearings become part of the record considered by the BPU.
The proposal also comes after New Jersey’s 2026 electricity auction produced a smaller separate increase for JCP&L customers. Beginning this year, a typical residential customer using 650 kWh saw the supply portion of the monthly bill rise by about $2.23, or 1.6%, according to the BPU.
If regulators ultimately approve the latest proposal substantially as filed, however, the 2028 increase would be considerably larger — adding roughly $14 a month to the bill of a typical residential JCP&L customer.
Sources: Jersey Central Power & Light / FirstEnergy; New Jersey Board of Public Utilities; ROI-NJ.