News Stories
Sponsored by Earth Etch. Regulatory insight and compliance solutions for today’s energy markets.
Commission Approves JCP&L Proposed Stipulation & Settlement Agreement
Re: In The Matter Of The Verified Petition Of Jersey Central Power & Light Company For Review And Approval Of Increases In, And Other Adjustments To, Its Rates And Charges For Electric Service, And For Approval Of Other Proposed Tariff Revisions In Connection Therewith (“JCP&L 2023 Base Rate Filing”)
On February 2, 2024, JCP&L filed request proposed stipulation and settlement agreement.
From the proposed stipulation and settlement agreement:
{***}
This Stipulation of Settlement (“Stipulation”) is hereby made and executed as of the dates indicated below, by and among the Petitioner, Jersey Central Power & Light Company (“JCP&L” or the “Company”), the Staff of the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (“Staff”), the New Jersey Division of Rate Counsel (“Rate Counsel”), Commercial Metals Company (“CMC”), New Jersey Large Energy Users Coalition (“NJLEUC”), and United States Department of Defense/Federal Executive Agencies (“DOD/FEA”) (collectively, the “Signatory Parties”). The Signatory Parties do hereby request that the Honorable Irene Jones, Administrative Law Judge (“ALJ Jones”) issue an Initial Decision approving the Stipulation, and that the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (“Board” or “BPU”) issue an Order approving the Stipulation without modification. {***}
Among other things, parties agreed: (1) to a rate base increase of $85 million, $100 million less than initially requested, “the bill impact for a typical residential customer with 777 kWh average monthly usage would be an increase of $4.26, or 3.6% compared to rates in effect as of January 1, 2024, resulting in an average monthly bill for a typical residential customer of $121.80”; (2) that JCP&L will “refund to customers $17,928,462, which represents amounts included in distribution charges that were misclassified, misallocated or lacked proper supporting documentation and certain other non-recoverable and/or non-operating costs, as estimated through” 2/29/24; (3) JCP&L will sunset its sodium vapor street lighting services, effective 12/31/25; (4) “JCP&L will increase Field Collection Charge from $25.00 to $35.00 for each collection visit and decrease the Reconnection Charge from $45.00 to $35.00 for customers under Service Classifications RS, RT, RGT, GS and GST”; and (5) “JCP&L will continue to include a revenue requirement reduction pro forma in subsequent base rate cases for future AMI-related O&M savings.”
As reported previously, the electric distribution rate case filed by Con Edison, sought approximately $1.2 billion more in electric revenue and approximately $500 million more in gas revenue, which would translate to an overall electric customer bill increase of 11.2% and an overall gas customer bill increase of 18.2%.
Of note Con Edison is proposing:
- to replace its 20-year-old Retail Access Systems that facilitate interactions between retail electric suppliers and Con Edison;
- to change the uncollectibles billing determination period for the POR discount rate from 12 months ending in November to 12 months ending in September; and
- a number tariff changes because of the implementation of AMI in its service territory;
- to eliminate certain tariff provisions that “facilitate natural gas use but exceed statutory requirements”;
- to incorporate the option for Retail Access marketers (i.e., gas suppliers) to directly procure RNG injected directly into the Con Edison distribution system themselves. This would not change any current allocations for baseload or any of the tiers. Deliveries from RNG would be included in the marketers’ daily delivery requirement and those volumes would be subject to the same imbalance and cashout procedures as all other volumes delivered to Con Edison;
- a pilot program designed to allow for the procurement of certified gas, during the rate period, limited to an annual cost above traditional supplies of $800,000 per year (according to the utility, certified natural gas is natural gas originating from producing sites that have undergone third–party certification to verify that the operator has met high environmental standards and best practices for methane emissions reduction in their operations).
(Executed Stipulation of Settlement). (02/02/2024)
Order (02/14/2024)
ER23030144 (03/16/2023)
