Assemblywomen Collect 1,500 Signatures Opposing JCP&L Hike

Assemblywomen Amy Handlin and Caroline Casagrande plan to present petitions Wednesday signed by 1,500 ratepayers opposed to a proposed electricity rate hike by Jersey Central Power and Light.

 “We will speak for the hundreds of ratepayers who are tired of paying more for less service,” Handlin, R-Monmouth, said. “This proposal to take about $85 more per year from hard-working families lacks credibility because JCP&L has yet to answer very serious charges of pocketing corporate profit instead of investing in the improvements that would have made our service more reliable and our rates more tolerable.”

Handlin and Casagrande plan to speak at Wednesday's public hearing in Freehold and submit more than 1,500 signatures they gathered in opposition to the rate increase after Handlin, R-Monmouth, launched a petition.

Hearings are scheduled for 1:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. tomorrow, Wednesday April 24, at the Freehold Township Municipal Building, One Municipal Plaza.

JCP&L wants a 4.5 percent increase – roughly $85 more per year for the average ratepayer – to repair damage caused by Hurricanes Irene and Sandy. Casagrande and Handlin, and hundreds of their constituents, object to the proposal because of an unanswered allegation from a nonpartisan government watchdog that JCP&L collected more profit than legally allowed from New Jerseyratepayers while allowing its infrastructure to deteriorate.

“After JCP&L literally left our communities in the dark and sent New Jersey ratepayers’ money to its parent company in Ohio, the utility is back with hands in our pockets,” Casagrande, R-Monmouth, said. “We will make the case for thousands of hard-working families and businesses that JCP&L should not see one penny more from New Jersey ratepayers until it returns every dollar it pocketed for corporate greed.”

For more information, read Casagrande’s op-ed “Protest JCP&L’s galling greed, incompetence,” which appeared in Saturday’s Asbury Park Press.