TRENTON, N.J. (KYW Newsradio) —- Energy rates have been on a steady climb in New Jersey over the last several years and another 20% jump is slated for June 1, but before that, lawmakers are holding a special hearing where they say difficult conversations will happen.
One of the expected participants will be Assemblymember Wayne DeAngelo, chairman of the State Assembly’s Telecommunications and Utilities Committee.
“We’re going to ask the hard questions of why, who, where, and what we need to do to fix this,” he said.
DeAngelo pointed to a continued focus on green energy production that hasn’t kept pace with the realities of everyday consumption as one of the many reasons.
“New Jersey only generates 75% of what we use and we have to import the rest,” he said.
What made that situation worse was the loss of offshore wind power plans following the election of President Donald Trump. It’s left a big hole in lawmakers’ plans, according to DeAngelo.
“With that loss, we have to regroup, put the utilities on notice that we’re considering all options and that we have to make sure that we aren’t chasing people out of New Jersey and making it unaffordable by having 18% to 20%t rate increases,” he said.
The planned 20% increase slated for June 1 would add an additional $40 to a $200 bill.
DeAngelo said the state needs to be more reliant on locally-produced power, especially as he expects demand for electricity to double within the next 10 years as more high-tech manufacturing and data centers are built in New Jersey.
To meet the need and lower the bill, he said a more diverse portfolio of power sources is needed, from nuclear to natural gas and more.