The yearslong power struggle over high utility bills between Congressman Jeff Van Drew and Atlantic City Electric has sparked another showdown, this time with a call for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to reject the company’s proposed 2-cent customer refund, reopen its investigation and set the rates and refunds itself.
“The two-cent figure comes from the company’s own analysis, which to my knowledge no one outside the company has verified,” Van Drew said in an Oct. 6 letter to Laura Swett, FERC chair. “I do not believe that is a credible measure of what South Jersey families were overcharged or what they are owed from those overcharges.”
In October 2024, Van Drew requested that FERC audit ACE, a subsidiary of Exelon Corp., one of the largest utilities in the country, because he believed the company’s billing practices were systematically flawed. FERC’s findings, released in July, found the utility improperly recorded compromise settlement payments, materials and supplies write-offs, bank fees, excess and deficient accumulated deferred income taxes, and equity allowance for funds used during construction-related deferred taxes in accounts that did not comply with applicable accounting requirements.
“We care about our customers and are committed to keeping energy costs as low as possible. That’s why we take the findings from the recent FERC audit seriously and are implementing its recommendations to strengthen our processes,” said Frank Tedesco, an ACE spokesperson, reiterating the company’s Sept. 4 position. “Based on our initial analysis following confirmation with FERC staff, any refund for customers would amount to less than 2 cents per month over a 12-month period.”
Van Drew pushed back, writing in his letter to Svett that transmission charges hit every household, and after watching bills double or triple, consumers face a $2 monthly increase beginning this month. That amount, he said, equates to about 100 times the refund Atlantic City Electric calculates each customer is owed.
As customer bills climbed, Atlantic City Electric’s profit rose from $155 million in 2024 to $188 million last year, according to the congressman. Exelon reported $2.7 billion in earnings, and its chief executive officer received $15.6 million in compensation, he added. Meanwhile, the N.J. Board of Public Utilities approved a $54 million rate increase for ACE last November, Van Drew said.
“Atlantic City Electric cannot be allowed to decide for itself how much it overcharged people and then tell everyone the answer is less than 2 cents a month,” Van Drew said. “Once the federal Still audit proved there was overbilling, suddenly the answer became that people were owed almost nothing.”
While the congressman acknowledged some of the concerns are outside the scope of FERC’s jurisdiction, he said the federal regulatory agency’s authority over transmission rates is “one of the few avenues left for relief.”
The federal Power Act charges FERC with ensuring transmission rates are just and reasonable and ordering refunds when they are not, Van Drew said.
“We ask the commission to use that authority to reject the company’s two-cent estimate, independently verify the full amount customers were overcharged, and order complete refunds with interest,” Van Drew wrote, urging the commission to extend its audit to the years before 2021 and assess how all five findings affect customer bills.
He also requested that FERC open a separate investigation, under Section 206 of the Power Act, to determine whether Atlantic City Electric’s transmission rates are still just and reasonable.
“It’s important to understand what the audit found and what it did not find,” Brian Aherns, a spokesperson for the utility, said in a phone call Sept. 2. “The audit did not conclude that Atlantic City Electric violated federal tax law and did not outline any specific amounts of customer overbilling. Of the audit’s five findings, only two require additional review to determine whether any impacts to customers occurred and whether refunds may be warranted.”
At the time, Aherns said the company was completing its analysis of the audit and implementing FERC’s recommendations to strengthen its procedures, adding the utility remains focused on providing safe, reliable service while helping customers manage energy costs through available assistance programs and payment options.
“We know many South Jersey families and businesses are concerned about the rising cost of electricity, and affordability remains a real challenge,” Aherns said. “That’s why we take this matter seriously and fully and transparently complied and engaged with FERC’s review and accepted its recommendations.”
