Business & Tech

PSE&G Wants $4 Billion to Upgrade Power Grid

Upgrades aimed at modernizing electricity grid after Sandy left widespread outages in the area.

By Tom Johnson, NJSpotlight.com

Is it time to invest nearly $4 billion in ratepayer subsidies to help modernize the power grid to avert widespread outages from extreme weather, such as Hurricane Sandy?

If the state’s largest utility gets its way, the answer is "Yes," at least according to a filing yesterday with the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities. The proposal -- courtesy of Public Service Electric & Gas -- is likely to kindle a fiery debate over how the state should respond to Sandy and at what cost to consumers.

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The filing comes at a time when the state’s utilities are under enormous pressure to reduce long outages caused by extreme weather, while the Christie administration is struggling to find ways to reduce energy bills, which typically rank among the highest in the nation. Tough choices abound all around.

But PSE&G executives argue that with natural gas prices at historic lows and surcharges related to the deregulation of the energy industry in New Jersey lapsing in the next few years, it's possible to ramp up the resiliency of the power grid without spiking residential customers’ bills.

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It is a scenario that some find highly unlikely.

“If you think a $4 billion filing will not affect ratepayers, then you believe in fairy dust,’’ said Stephen Goldenberg, an attorney for the New Jersey Large Energy Users Coalition, a group that could be burdened by big increases in their electric bills if the filing is approved. Goldenberg noted he has yet to review the filing.

“I don’t know how ratepayers can afford it,’’ agreed Stephanie Brand, director of the New Jersey Division of Rate Counsel, which represents consumers and businesses in utility rate cases. “It’s really troubling from a ratepayer perspective.’’

Others argued that New Jersey can ill afford not to make investments to upgrade its infrastructure.

“When we don’t make these investments, we will eventually hurt business growth and the economy,’’ said Clark Barrineau, a communications specialist at the American Society of Civil Engineers. The organization issued a recent report saying that increasing investment in the power grid could save American businesses $126 billion.

PSE&G executives agreed.

“This is the right time to make these investments,’’ said Ralph LaRossa, PSE&G president and chief operating officer, who argued that lower natural gas prices and other factors can allow the utility to make these investments without raising bills.

Those other factors include surcharges on customer utility bills stemming from the state’s efforts to deregulate the electric industry in 1999. Those tariffs will disappear in 2016, cutting electric bills by about 7.4 percent, or $8.30 a month, according to Michael Jennings, a spokesman for PSEG Power, an affiliate of PSE&G.

Marrying a proposal to increase rates as bills drop because of temporary factors is a common practice by New Jersey utilities seeking a rate hike. It weds a one-time drop in bills to a longer-term increase in energy costs, masking the impact of the real cost to consumers.

Read more at NJSpotlight.com

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