TRENTON – Senator John Burzichelli, a member of the Senate Select Committee, issued the following statement after today’s hearing on escalating utility rates in New Jersey:

“The takeaway from today’s hearing is that PJM and its fundamentally flawed energy auction let us down. Their interests are not the same as the ratepayers. In fact, they actually said that higher utility rates can be a good thing because they attract industry investors in search of profits. This misguided attitude fails to recognize that customer affordability should be a priority. The net result is that New Jersey is held hostage to higher utility prices. That’s unacceptable.”