SENATE BUDGET AND APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

SENATE, No. 4361

with committee amendments

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED:  JUNE 26, 2025

      The Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee reports favorably and with committee amendments Senate Bill No. 4361.

      As amended, this bill directs the Department of Community Affairs (department) and the Board of Public Utilities (board) to each 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 (utility service) to certain residential customers during the period of June 15 through August 31, unless the discontinuation of service is due to a utility emergency.

      In addition, each year, the bill requires a local authority, municipal utility, rural electric cooperative, or public utility to restore service on June 15 to any residential customer who is eligible for and seeks protection under the program and whose utility services were terminated for nonpayment prior to June 15.  The bill prohibits a local authority, municipal utility, rural electric cooperative, or public utility from charging a reconnection fee for restoring service under the bill but permits these entities to verify, prior to restoring service, that a residential customer still resides in or occupies the place of residence for which service was terminated for nonpayment.  The bill also requires a local authority, municipal utility, rural electric cooperative, or public utility to discuss a deferred payment arrangement with any residential customer participating in the program who is in arrears.

      Under the bill, a residential customer is eligible for the program if the customer:  (1) meets one or more of the categorical eligibility criteria for the board’s “Winter Termination Program” or the department’s “Winter Termination Program,” as applicable; or (2) is unable to pay the customer’s local authority, municipal utility, rural electric cooperative, or public utility bill due to certain circumstances outlined in the bill that are beyond the customer’s control.

     The bill also requires the department and the board to each 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 due to certain circumstances beyond the customer’s control.

COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS:

The committee amended the bill to: 

      (1)  define “utility emergency” under the bill as any condition constituting a potential danger to life, health, or property that requires a local authority, municipal utility, rural electric cooperative, or public utility to discontinue, interrupt, or maintain the discontinuation or interruption of electric, sewer, or water service or that results in an unscheduled discontinuance or interruption in electric, sewer, or water service;

      (2)  replace the program’s temperature-based protections with date-based protections, prohibiting utility shutoffs during the period of June 15 to August 31 rather than prohibiting utility shutoffs when 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;

      (3)  require utility services to be restored on June 15 of each year, with no reconnection fee charged, for any residential customer who is eligible for and seeks protection under the program and whose utility services were terminated for nonpayment prior to June 15;

      (4)  provide that local authorities, municipal utilities, rural electric cooperatives, and public utilities may verify, prior to restoring service on June 15, that the residential customer continues to reside in or occupy the place of residence for which service was terminated for nonpayment;

      (5)  require local authorities, municipal utilities, rural electric cooperatives, and public utilities to discuss a deferred payment arrangement with any residential customer participating in the program who is in arrears;

      (6)  clarify that program eligibility, in part, is determined by whether a residential customer meets one or more of the categorical eligibility criteria for the board’s “Winter Termination Program” or the department’s “Winter Termination Program,” as applicable, rather than whether a residential customer receives assistance under programs specified in the board’s “Winter Termination Program” eligibility criteria;

      (7)  clarify that program eligibility, in part, is determined by a residential customer’s inability to pay their utility bill due to certain circumstances that are beyond the residential customer’s control;

      (8)  provide an exception to the program’s shutoff protections to allow for the discontinuation or interruption of utility service, due to a utility emergency, to residential customers who are eligible for the program; and

      (9)  make technical corrections. 

FISCAL IMPACT:

      Fiscal information for this bill is currently unavailable.