How Will NJ Spend $1 Billion from "Societal Benefits Charges"?

Final details are expected in February on how over $1 billion that will be collected by the New Jersey electric utility industry over the next eight years from “

Societal Benefits Charges” will be spent. The electric restructuring legislation passed in 1999 calls for about three-quarters of the money to go to energy efficiency measures and the remainder to support clean energy technologies. The energy portion will be used to subsidize the cost of fuel cells and renewable energy technologies such as wind and solar by 50% to 60%, according to Ashok Gupta of the Natural Resources Defense Council in New York.