STATE OF NEW JERSEY
217th LEGISLATURE
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2016 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman JERRY GREEN
District 22 (Middlesex, Somerset and Union)
Assemblyman BENJIE E. WIMBERLY
District 35 (Bergen and Passaic)
SYNOPSIS
Prohibits BPU from exercising authority over utility service extensions in manner which creates cost differentials that distinguish among persons or localities based on location of such extensions.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel.
An Act concerning public utility service extensions and amending R.S.48:3-4.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. R.S.48:3-4 is amended to read as follows:
48:3-4. No public utility shall make or give, directly or indirectly, any undue or unreasonable preference or advantage to any person, locality or particular description of traffic, or subject any particular person, locality or particular description of traffic to any prejudice or disadvantage. Notwithstanding the provisions of [section] R.S.48:3-1 [of the Revised Statutes] and this section a public utility engaged in the distribution and sale of gas and electricity or either thereof may supply such services to its employees at reduced rates.
Notwithstanding the provisions of R.S.48:2-27 and any rules or regulations adopted thereunder, the board shall not exercise its authority regarding the extension of utility service in a manner which creates cost differentials that distinguish among persons or localities based on the location of such extensions.
(cf: P.L.1969, c.69, s.1)
2. This act shall take effect on the 60th day after the date of enactment, but the Board of Public Utilities may take such anticipatory administrative action in advance thereof as shall be necessary for the implementation of this act.
STATEMENT
In amending the statute (R.S.48:3-4) that prohibits a public utility from granting any undue preference, and by prohibiting specific regard to the provisions of R.S.48:2-27 which govern public utility service extensions, this bill prohibits the Board of Public Utilities (BPU) from exercising its authority regarding the extension of utility service in a manner which creates cost differentials that distinguish among persons or localities based on the location of such extensions.
Meeting the State's critical need for adequate educational facilities and residential structures involves a wide array of considerations involving demographic, economic, environmental and social factors. Numerous agencies at various levels of government are responsible for addressing these concerns in strategic and functional plans that are regularly revised in response to changing conditions. Those agencies implement their plans through the review of applications for land use, environmental, and other permits necessary to construction. In light of the dynamic and complex nature of this multi-tiered regime of land use and environmental protections and recognizing the Statewide need for adequate educational facilities and equitable housing opportunities for households across the income spectrum, the BPU should not exercise its authority regarding extension of utility service to create incentives or disincentives, or both, regarding the location of utility service extensions.