Sponsored by:
Senator OWEN HENRY
District 12 (Burlington, Middlesex, Monmouth and Ocean)
SYNOPSIS
Requires BPU to impose penalties during audits.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act requiring the BPU to impose penalties during audits and amending R.S.48:2-42.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. R.S.48:2-42 is amended to read as follows:
48:2-42. a. Any person or public utility that [shall fail] fails to comply with an order of the board, except an order to resume service which has been discontinued, shall be subject to a penalty of [one hundred dollars] $100 for every day during which the default continues. Any person or public utility that [shall fail] fails to comply with any order of the board directing the public utility to resume service which has been discontinued shall be subject to a penalty of [two hundred and fifty dollars] $250 for every day during which such default continues. [Such penalties shall be recovered in an action at law in the name of the state.]
b. In addition to any applicable penalty provided in subsection a. of this section, the Board of Public Utilities shall assess a civil penalty of $500 for every day after a public utility is put on notice that the public utility has failed to provide sufficient information for the Board of Public Utilities to complete an audit of that public utility conducted pursuant to R.S.48:2-16.4.
c. Any civil penalty imposed pursuant to this section shall be collected by the board in a summary proceeding before a court of competent jurisdiction pursuant to the provisions of the “Penalty Enforcement Law of 1999,” P.L.1999, c.274 (C.2A:58-10 et seq.).
(cf: R.S.48:2-42)
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill provides the Board of Public Utilities (BPU) additional means to ensure the compliance of public utilities with the BPU’s audit procedure. The bill requires the BPU to assess a civil penalty of $500 for every day after a public utility is put on notice that the public utility has failed to provide sufficient information for the BPU to complete an audit of that public utility. Currently, when the BPU determines that an audit of a public utility is necessary or desirable, the BPU may initiate an audit and request information such as accounting and personnel records from that public utility in order to complete the audit. The New Jersey Division of the Rate Counsel has indicated that certain audits of public utilities have gone uncompleted due to a lack of cooperation from the entities being audited. It is the sponsor’s intent to ensure that when the BPU determines that an audit of a utility is necessary or desirable, the entity under audit provides sufficient information to complete the audit in a timely manner.