NJ Advocacy Groups To Intervene In $44 Million Enforcement Action Against JCP&L

The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (NJBPU) has granted state watchdog groups the right to intervene in a proceeding to hold Jersey Central Power & Light (JCP&L) accountable for failing to meet Minimum Reliability Levels for storm response and restoration from 2022 to 2024.

Intervening groups include the New Jersey Citizen Action Education Fund (NJCAEF), Environment New Jersey, NJPIRG Citizen Lobby and Vote Solar. NJ Apple Public Interest Law Center will represent them during the proceeding.

As New Jersey’s second-largest utility provider, JCP&L has long drawn criticism for its storm response and power outages. Most recently, the NJBPU opened its proceeding to review JCP&L in July after residents across New Jersey faced prolonged heat and storm-related outages that same month. The NJBPU has proposed that JCP&L pay a $44.1 million penalty. 

“New Jersey residents deserve safe, affordable, reliable electric service, and this proceeding reflects the Board’s commitment to holding utilities accountable when they fail to meet our standards,” said NJBPU President Ben Hertz-Shargel. “We will continue to closely scrutinize JCP&L’s performance, take corrective actions, and use every tool available to defend utility customers across the state.” 

In another critical statement, Dena Mottola Jaborska, Executive Director of NJCAEF, cited an audit that found that JCP&L’s parent company, FirstEnergy, withdrew half a billion dollars meant for grid investment just before Hurricane Sandy hit to pay shareholders.

“We need to make sure the price paid for this potential pattern of neglect doesn’t unfairly fall on customers, but on the shareholders who may have extracted wealth from our state while leaving communities behind,” Jaborska stated.

This proceeding comes as Garden State electric bills reached a staggering high. According to the U.S. Congressional Joint Economic Committee, New Jersey’s electricity bills surged by 16.9% in 2025, higher than any other state in the country except the District of Columbia.

Despite this high cost, JCP&L filed a rate proposal to the NJBPU in August that would increase residents’ monthly electric bills by 8.8% or $14.23. SaveOnEnergy reported that, as of July 2026, New Jersey paid an average of $166.76 per month for electricity, giving it the 14th-highest monthly energy bill in the U.S.

Doug O’Malley, Director of Environment New Jersey, said that thousands of NJ customers lost power nearly every month of 2026, and that these outages often disproportionately affected JCP&L territory. As a result, communities have asked to join the proceeding against JCP&L.

These interveners don’t just want JCP&L to pay a fine. They also want the company to consider providing more cost-effective approaches to improve grid reliability. Proposed solutions include investing in larger energy storage, using more solar energy, and managing vegetation to prevent trees from falling onto power lines.

“We need solutions that can quickly improve the lives of JCP&L customers, do so in the most cost-effective manner, and protect JCP&L’s large contingent of rural and coastal customers from the growing extreme weather impacts of the climate crisis,” O’Malley said in a statement.

Though an official date has not been announced for the proceeding, O’Malley anticipates it starting in early to mid-2027. With multiple advocacy groups intervening, this case has highlighted local demand for accountability and reform to the state’s utility system.

“So part of the reason that we are intervening…is not only to justify the penalty that’s being leveled against JCP&L, but to have a larger conversation about what all utilities need to be investing in in the 21st century,” O’Malley said in an interview. 

“And the solutions that the BPU and Governor [Mikie] Sherrill are already touting on solar and storage, we need to make those investments more real and more expansive across all the utility areas in New Jersey.”