Jersey Central Power & Light has asked New Jersey regulators to approve a $253 million increase in base distribution rates plus recovery of $476 million in deferred storm costs.
If approved, residential customers would see a bill increase of about 8.8 percent once the combined changes take effect in 2028. The FirstEnergy subsidiary submitted the proposal to the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities on August 7.
The filing is structured so customers would not feel the base rate change until offsets expire in 2027, with the storm cost charge following in January 2028.
What the utility is asking for
The filing includes proposed offsets to prevent residential customers from feeling changes to base delivery rates in 2027.
It also includes a proposed $253 million increase in base distribution rates, which would result in a bill increase of approximately 7% when offsets expire in 2028.
The filing also seeks recovery of $476 million in previously deferred storm costs through a separate dedicated charge that goes into effect in January 2028, spreading recovery over a 10-year period rather than seeking recovery over a shorter timeframe.
JCP&L said it is the largest electric distribution utility by service area in New Jersey, according to its company announcement.
The utility has pointed to worsening weather as the driver of its storm recovery request. Doug Mokoid, FirstEnergy President of New Jersey, said: “Customers shouldn’t have to choose between affordability and reliability. Our balanced approach puts both front-and-center simultaneously by minimizing the impact on bills today and giving customers time to plan, while continuing to invest in the infrastructure needed to deliver safe, reliable service for generations to come.”
JCP&L said base rate filings allow utilities to recover the cost of upgrading infrastructure and restoring customers after storms. The company said increasingly frequent severe storms pushed its deferred storm costs to $476 million before the July 3-6 storms. The company proposed a separate storm recovery rider to spread costs over a longer term.
Largest single case in a record quarter
The JCP&L request was the single biggest item in a record third quarter for utility rate filings nationwide.
Investor-owned utilities asked state regulators for $4.5 billion in higher electric and gas rates during the third quarter of 2026, the highest third quarter on record. That brings the total requested over the first three quarters of the year to $23.1 billion.
The nonpartisan nonprofit PowerLines published the count on October 7 in a quarterly index called Utility Bills Are Rising: Q3 2026 Update, and it says the third-quarter filings could affect future bills for 45.5 million utility customers.
Analysts tracking the filing note that it bundles two separate cost drivers into one customer charge.
The $476 million of storm costs recovers money the utility has already spent, spread over 10 years, while the $253 million of distribution rates funds work that is still ahead.
Both reach a customer through the same delivery charge, and a single quarterly figure does not say which of the two is growing.
Political pushback in New Jersey
The filing landed amid heightened scrutiny of utility costs in New Jersey. On her first day in office, Governor Mikie Sherrill ordered a freeze in late January on “any proceedings in which electric distribution utilities seek approvals for rate increases or cost recoveries.” The order came roughly seven months before the August 7 filing, and about a month after storms over the Fourth of July weekend knocked out power to thousands of JCP&L customers, some of whom were among the last in the state to have service restored.
State lawmakers have since pressed regulators to reject the request outright. Three Republican state lawmakers sent a letter to the BPU calling for it to “immediately and outright reject the 8.8% rate hike recently proposed by JCP&L.”
A spokesperson for Governor Sherrill said the Board of Public Utilities and Rate Counsel “will go through JCP&L’s filing with a fine-tooth comb” and emphasized other steps the governor has taken to prevent price increases.
Why the timing matters
The case arrives as utilities across the country push a wave of rate requests tied partly to grid investment and data center demand growth, even as residential electricity demand growth from other sources, including electric vehicles, has been moderating.
Utilities have also been experimenting with ways to manage growing load without new grid upgrades, as seen in PG&E’s flexible connections program for EV chargers and in demand-shifting efforts like a California utility’s bidirectional charging pilot.
No hearing schedule has been released for the JCP&L case. If approved as filed, base rates would take effect May 6, 2027 , with the full combined bill impact reaching customers in January 2028, according to the company.
