JCP&L wants to raise your electric bill again. Here's what it would cost you.
Updated: Aug. 12, 2026, 11:11 p.m.| Published: Aug. 11, 2026, 2:45 p.m.
By Jeff Goldman | NJ.com
Jersey Central Power & Light plans to raise customers’ electric bills by nearly 9% starting in 2028.
The company has submitted a rate proposal to the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities that would increase monthly bills for the average customer by $14.23 starting on Jan. 1, 2028, it said in a statement Monday.
If approved, the increase would take effect May 6, 2027. However, JCP&L said it would use offsets to delay the impact on customer bills until Jan. 1, 2028.
JCP&L said it is seeking a $253 million increase in base distribution rates as well as the recovery of $476 million in deferred storm costs.
A typical customer whose monthly bill is $162.30 would pay $176.53 starting in 2028.
New Jersey’s energy rates across all utilities jumped by about 20% in 2025, and the average bill rose 16.9%, the highest among U.S. states.
A spokesman for Gov. Mikie Sherrill said the the Board of Public Utilities and Rate Counsel “will go through JCP&L’s filing with a fine-tooth comb” and emphasized other steps Sherrill has taken to prevent price increases.
“Gov. Sherrill froze utility rates (in) the middle of her inaugural address to keep bills from skyrocketing. Those rates remain frozen,” the spokesman said. “She has moved aggressively to further keep immediate costs in check through bill credits and a price collar on the regional grid operator PJM, and drive down longer-term costs with more power production and holding data centers, power companies and PJM accountable.”
Moments after being taking office in January, Sherrill signed executive orders to declare a state of emergency and “freeze” utility rate increases.
“I hope, New Jersey, you remember me when you open your electric bill and it hasn’t gone up another 20%,” Sherrill said in her inaugural speech.
Three Republican state lawmakers, meanwhile, sent a letter to the BPU calling for it to “immediately and outright reject the 8.8% rate hike recently proposed by JCP&L.”
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Jeff Goldman
Jeff Goldman is a morning/early afternoon breaking and local news reporter for NJ.com. He joined the Star-Ledger in 2010 after previously working as a high school sports reporter and sports copy editor at...more
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