nuclear-news

It is now largely up to Gov. Phil Murphy whether to subsidize now-profitable nuclear power plants and increase the state’s reliance on renewable energy at a likely cost of billions to New Jersey consumers.

The subsidy means the average household could be paying about $30 to $40 more a year for electricity. Commercial customers and other large energy users are expected to pay much more, costs that also could be passed to consumers.

After months of wrangling and false starts, the Senate and Assembly on Thursday approved a controversial bill, S-2313/A-3724, that would prop up two nuclear plants owned by Public Service Enterprise Group in Salem County, subject to approval by the state Board of Public Utilities………

Critics, however, have assailed the legislation as unnecessary and poorly designed. Environmentalists, business groups and the state’s ratepayer advocate have argued that PSEG has not demonstrated a need for subsidies and have raised concerns about their cost.

“The Legislature just gave PSEG the biggest corporate subsidy in state history,” Jeff Tittel, director of the New Jersey Sierra Club, declared Thursday.

Stefanie Brand, the ratepayer advocate, has estimated that the subsidies, if approved, will cost consumers more than $3 billion over a decade. She has also blasted the bill for making the subsidies “irrevocable” — once awarded to PSEG, they are locked in for three or four years even if the plants are profitable — and for potentially shutting her agency out of the Board of Public Utilities review process………..https://www.northjersey.com/story/news/new-jersey/2018/04/12/lawmakers-send-murphy-faces-decision-nuclear-subsidy-renewable-energy-bills-could-cost-nj-ratepayers/511719002/