Jersey Central Power & Light (JCP&L) announced Monday the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) has approved a settlement in the company’s base rate case.

The company says the settlement “will help support and build on the significant service reliability enhancements made by the utility in recent years to benefit its more than one million customers in the state.”

Parties to the settlement include: the BPU staff; New Jersey Division of Rate Counsel; Gerdau Steel; U. S. Department of Defense; and New Jersey Large Energy Users Coalition.

The settlement results in a 3.6 percent overall rate increase – or $3.98 a month – for a residential customer using 768 kilowatt hours of electricity, which is the average monthly usage for all JCP&L residential customers.

Overall, the increase will total $80 million and be used “to continue tree trimming, inspections of lines, poles and substations, and maintenance for newly installed equipment that enhances and modernizes the electric system.”

“The settlement will help the company recover costs of investments in service-related enhancement projects that have been completed since mid-2012,” the company stated. “These investments helped JCP&L achieve its best service reliability record in more than a decade last year, including a 33 percent reduction in system outage duration and a 19 percent improvement in customer restoration times. In addition, the utility’s tree trimming and vegetation management programs have reduced tree-related outages more than 38 percent.”

“It’s our job to provide dependable electricity to our customers for their homes, businesses and communities, and the rate settlement will help us deliver on this commitment,” said Jim Fakult, president of JCP&L. “The additional revenue will provide us the resources and technology necessary to enhance our infrastructure to help continue safe and reliable electric service for our customers.”

JCP&L’s new rates will be effective January 1, 2017.

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