New Jersey’s Board of Public Utilities told a joint Senate and Assembly hearing on March 28 it is pursuing a mix of near‑term and medium‑term actions to blunt the impact of rising generation prices on households.

BPU President Christine Gould Sidovi said the agency is proposing direct residential bill credits similar to last year’s summer payment — a roughly $175 summer credit aimed at customers on the winter termination program — and is exploring additional credits funded from the Clean Energy Fund and the Solar Alternative Compliance Payment (SACP). Sidovi said the agency also released a straw proposal to expand the Universal Service Fund (USF) that provides energy assistance for households at or below 60% of state median income.

“We are looking at the Clean Energy Fund and all available resources to provide a bill credit to all residential customers,” Sidovi said, and added her agency also proposed enrolling customers via utility outreach and setting enrollment targets to expand uptake of USF assistance. She said BPU staff are preparing the next community‑solar allocation with at least a 15% minimum bill credit for subscribers, and preparing storage incentive programs to get more capacity online more quickly.

Sidovi and other BPU staff also described energy efficiency programs that the state has been running under the Clean Energy Act. The board said the first triennium of some utility‑run efficiency programs produced $600 million in estimated participant savings; it is now completing the second triennium planning cycle and designing further measures to temper demand.

Lawmakers pressed BPU for quantification: Sidovi said the prior $175 summer credit cost about $48 million and reached about 280,000 customers, and confirmed the agency is examining how much additional credit funding can be allocated from SACP and the Clean Energy Fund. Several legislators asked the board to provide clearer, electronic summaries of the relief programs so they can explain them to constituents.

While Sidovi stressed near‑term assistance, she and lawmakers also discussed longer‑range affordability levers — legacy SREC reform proposals that the board said could save ratepayers about $1 billion over several years, and the USF expansion outlined in BPU’s affordability report. Lawmakers pressed for a firm timeline for USF changes; Sidovi said stakeholder meetings are scheduled soon and the new USF year begins in October. BPU said it will provide requested budget and program details in follow‑up sessions.

What’s next: BPU and staff will continue stakeholder outreach, finalize USF rule changes and seek to accelerate community solar, storage incentives and enrollment operations; lawmakers signaled close oversight and follow‑up hearings on budget implications.