ASSEMBLY, No. 2942

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

222nd LEGISLATURE

PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2026 SESSION

Sponsored by:

Assemblyman ALEX SAUICKIE

District 12 (Burlington, Middlesex, Monmouth and Ocean)

SYNOPSIS

     Prohibits electric and gas public utilities from implementing certain customer charges.

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

     Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel.

An Act concerning certain public utility charges and supplementing Title 48 of the Revised Statutes.

Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

     1.    a.  As used in this section: 

     “Board” means the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities or any successor agency. 

     “Customer charge” means a fixed charge assessed by an electric public utility or a gas public utility against a customer to recover administrative costs associated with managing or maintaining a customer’s account, including, but not limited to, meter reading, billing, and service line maintenance. 

     “Electric public utility” means a public utility, as that term is defined in R.S.48:2-13, that transmits and distributes electricity to end users within the State. 

“Fixed charge” means any charge or fee assessed by an electric public utility or a gas public utility against a utility customer that is not based on the amount of electricity or the volume of natural gas consumed by the customer. 

     “Gas public utility” means a public utility, as that term is defined in R.S.48:2-13, that distributes gas to end users within the State. 

     b.    Notwithstanding any law, rule, regulation, or order to the contrary, an electric public utility or a gas public utility shall not maintain or implement a customer charge for residential customers. 

     2.    This act shall take effect immediately. 

STATEMENT

     This bill prohibits electric public utilities and gas public utilities from maintaining or implementing a customer charge for residential customers.  Under the bill, “customer charge” means a fixed charge assessed by an electric public utility or a gas public utility against a customer to recover administrative costs associated with managing or maintaining a customer’s account, including, but not limited to, meter reading, billing, and service line maintenance.