SENATE ECONOMIC GROWTH COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

SENATE, No. 3289

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED:  JANUARY 14, 2021

      The Senate Economic Growth Committee reports favorably Senate Bill No. 3289.

      As reported, this bill requires the Board of Public Utilities (BPU) to adopt rules and regulations requiring an electric public utility (utility) to establish a timeline, not to exceed 36 months, for the replacement of the utility’s “back yard distribution equipment,” as defined in the bill, within a municipality if the utility provides electric distribution service using back yard distribution equipment to at least 50 percent of the residences of the municipality and if residential customers provided with electric distribution service using back yard distribution equipment within that municipality reported to the utility at least 250 incidents of a “sustained service interruption,” as defined in the bill, each year for the previous five-year period.  An electric public utility providing electric distribution service using back yard distribution equipment to at least 50 percent of the residences of a municipality shall annually provide notice to the board, as determined by the board, of the number of incidents during the prior year of a sustained service interruption reported by the utility’s residential customers provided with electric distribution service using back yard distribution equipment within that municipality.