Last week, the Governor unveiled her budget and despite vowing a different way, she continued the practice of taking from other funds. In order to help sustain NJ Transit, she proposed redirecting $140 million from the Garden State’s Clean Energy Fund.
Let us just state up front that we are never going to reduce rates and bills if we keep adding charges to raise money that is then raided to send for other things.
But if we are talking about energy affordability, we have to talk about what is in energy bills overall. In this video from the TV Show Our Infrastructure Matters, they show how those funds that are being raided come from the pocket of ratepayers in this detailed breakdown of the NJ electric Bill:
This isn’t the first time the clean energy fund has been raided. NJ.com noted that the money shifted from the Clean Energy Fund, which this year would be the third-largest diversion that has been done.
NJ Policy Perspective talked about the consequences of the raids:
It’s like paying twice for something you never get to see. The simple fact is that if we are serious about providing direct ratepayer relief, we could do it by eliminating the societal benefits charge, which is where the clean energy money comes from since we’re not using it for its intended purpose.
That would provide $1 billion in ratepayer relief or nearly $250/year per ratepayer. Especially if it’s just being diverted to fund other areas that are struggling rather than helping the people who are hurting the most. So let’s put it back in the hands of the ratepayers to provide real relief for them.
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