SENATE ECONOMIC GROWTH COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

SENATE, No. 3225

with committee amendments

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED:  OCTOBER 8, 2026

      The Senate Economic Growth Committee reports favorably and with committee amendments Senate Bill No. 3225.

      As amended and reported, this bill prohibits public utilities from assessing:  (1) a surcharge to any public utility customer; (2) a fee to any public utility customer who has not enrolled in automatic payments through the public utility and, instead, has elected to make one-time payments to the public utility for services rendered to that customer by the public utility; or (3) a fee to any public utility customer who has not enrolled in paperless statements through the public utility and, instead, has elected to receive paper statements from the public utility. 

      Under the bill, “surcharge” means an additional amount imposed by the public utility at the time of a payment transaction that increases a charge to a public utility customer to recover the cost of the public utility’s use of third-party payment processing services.  The term “surcharge” does not include credit card processing fees.

COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS:

      The committee amended the bill to exclude credit card processing fees from the definition of “surcharge” and make technical changes.