ASSEMBLY APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

ASSEMBLY, No. 5563

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED:  MAY 15, 2025

      The Assembly Appropriations Committee reports favorably Assembly Bill No. 5563.

      As reported, this bill directs the Department of Community Affairs (department) and the Board of Public Utilities (board) each to establish a “Summer Termination Program” (program).  The bill prohibits a local authority, municipal utility, rural electric cooperative, or public utility from discontinuing electric, sewer, or water service to certain residential customers if the three-day wet bulb globe temperature forecast within a local authority’s, municipal utility’s, rural electric cooperative’s, or public utility’s jurisdiction is expected to equal or exceed 85 degrees Fahrenheit for 24 hours or more out of the 72-hour period.  Under the bill, a residential customer is eligible for the program if the residential customer:  (1) receives assistance under certain programs specified in the eligibility criteria for the “Winter Termination Program”; or (2) is unable to pay the residential customer’s local authority, municipal utility, rural electric cooperative, or public utility bill due to certain circumstances, including, but not limited to, unemployment, illness, medically-related expenses, the recent death of an immediate family member, and any other circumstances, as determined by the department or the board, as applicable, that might cause financial hardship.

      Finally, the bill requires the department and the board each to establish a process for residential customers to self-certify their inability to pay a local authority, municipal utility, rural electric cooperative, or public utility bill.

FISCAL IMPACT:

      The Office of Legislative Services (OLS) concludes that this bill will result in an annual State cost increase of up to $3.5 million for the administrative costs of the Department of Community Affairs and the Board of Public Utilities, which will be required to dedicate staff time and resources to establish and administer the Summer Termination Program.  This estimate represents a maximum State cost increase based on annual State spending for a similar program, the Winter Termination Program, between FY 2022 and FY 2025.

      The OLS anticipates that the enactment of this bill may result in reduced local annual revenue.  By eliminating the possibility of utility service disconnections during the summer months, local and municipal utilities may experience a reduction in revenue that would otherwise be generated from reconnection fees and additional penalties.   Additionally, local and municipal expenditures may decrease annually as utility companies will not have to dispatch resources to disconnect and reconnect services for customers.