New Jersey residents struggling with soaring electric bills may finally get a long-overdue look at relief after Assemblyman Alex Sauickie called attention to a state requirement that had apparently gone overlooked for years.

Since May, Sauickie has pressed the Sherrill administration about a law requiring the state to develop a ratepayer relief plan and hold a public hearing when carbon allowance prices climb above a certain level.

On Friday, the administration acknowledged it had only recently become aware of the requirement. Hours later, the Board of Public Utilities announced it will hold the required joint hearing with the Department of Environmental Protection and present an action plan for ratepayer relief.

“Ratepayers have been getting hammered by electric bills while a law specifically requiring the state to develop a relief plan was apparently collecting dust,” Sauickie (R-Ocean) said. “I kept asking where the plan was and when the hearing would be held. Now, after months of pushing, we’re finally getting both.”

Under state law, if two consecutive Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative auctions result in prices exceeding $7 per emissions allowance, the DEP and BPU must develop an action plan for ratepayer relief within 90 days of the second auction and hold at least one joint public hearing regarding allowance prices.

That threshold was first crossed in 2021.

Since May, Sauickie has repeatedly written to the DEP and BPU seeking information about whether the agencies had complied with those requirements and, if not, when they intended to do so.

Just before the BPU announcement Friday, Sauickie received a response from the Sherrill administration acknowledging that it had recently become aware of the statutory provision requiring the agencies to hold the hearing. The administration also welcomed Sauickie’s participation in the process.

Shortly afterward, the BPU announced it will hold a joint hearing with the DEP to discuss RGGI allowance prices and New Jersey’s participation in the program. The agencies will also present an action plan for using RGGI proceeds to provide ratepayer relief.

“I’m glad they found the law. Now let’s find the savings,” Sauickie said. “A hearing and an action plan are a start, but families don’t need another government exercise that ends with a report sitting on a shelf. They need lower electric bills.”

Sauickie said he intends to participate in the hearing and continue pressing the administration for permanent reductions in energy costs.

“I work for the people opening electric bills every month wondering what else they have to cut to pay them. The administration works for those same people,” Sauickie said. “If it takes me pestering Trenton to make sure every available tool for ratepayer relief is being used, I’m happy to keep pestering.”

The BPU said the official hearing date will be published in the New Jersey Register in September.