JCP&L electric rates: the price to beat, the rate case and what a supplier must undercut

It is 17.05¢ per kWh. It is the supply part of your bill. The state shopping site, NJ Power Switch, describes it as the average cost of making power and moving it on the big lines. JCP&L posts it in one file with three pieces. The price started October 1, 2026.

In June to September the first 600 kWh of use costs 15.82¢. Use above 600 kWh costs a little more. The checker below applies that second price for you.

Read the table with care. A smaller default price does not promise a smaller bill, because each utility sets its own delivery charges. For the largest utility, see our PSE&G page. Our New Jersey rates guide puts all four side by side.

Type the offer's price per kWh with tax, any monthly fee, and your kWh for winter and for summer. The tool shows the saving or the extra cost for each season and for 12 months. It also gives the highest price that would still tie. Use the price on the offer, not the one in an ad.

1. 1
   Offer price.

   Cents per kWh, such as 15.90, with tax in it.

2. 2
   Monthly fee.

   Dollars. Leave 0 when the offer has no fee.

3. 3
   Winter use.

   The kWh figure on an October to May bill.

4. 4
   Summer use.

   The kWh figure on a June to September bill.

Read "Costs more" as cash lost and "Saves" as cash kept. The result covers supply only. It is a guide, not your bill, and it skips delivery, credits and the contract terms.

Turn the fee into cents per kWh: divide it by your kWh and multiply by 100. The result is how much the fee adds to the offer price. A home that uses little power feels the fee most, and that describes many shore and second homes.

Here is a made-up example. A plan costs 15.69¢ with a $9.99 monthly fee, and you use 700 kWh. The fee adds 1.43¢ per kWh, so the plan really costs 17.12¢. Compare 17.12¢ with the 17.05¢ winter price to compare, not with the 15.69¢ in the ad.

We tested the plan finder for two JCP&L-area ZIP codes on Oct. 25, 2026. ZIP 08753 (Toms River) and ZIP 07728 (Freehold area) each showed 10 plans, from 15.69¢ to 18.50¢ per kWh. Some were below the price to compare that day and some were above it. The 15.69¢ plan carried a $9.99 monthly fee.

That spread is why the checker is on this page. A low price in a list is only the start. Add the fee, use your own kWh, and compare with the price to compare for the same season. Then read the contract length and the cancel fee. If an offer wins in the checker, it is worth a closer look. If it loses, skip it.

Delivery is the other half of your bill, and it is not shoppable. JCP&L's tariff lists a flat $4.27 a month plus a price per kWh. All charges include sales tax.

By our math, a home that uses more than about 765 kWh a month pays more for delivery in summer than in winter. A shore home with a big air conditioner crosses that line fast. A supplier cannot change any of these numbers.

The tariff also lists separate off-peak and controlled water heating rates for homes with that equipment. The standard home rate we read has no peak and off-peak hours.

A rate case is a request to change what the utility may charge for delivery. On August 7, 2026, JCP&L said it asked the BPU for a 253 million dollar increase in base delivery rates. It also asked to recover 476 million dollars in storm costs it had set aside, through a separate charge starting in January 2028 and spread over 10 years.

1. Aug. 7, 2026JCP&L announced the request.
2. May 6, 2027The date JCP&L proposes for new base rates.
3. January 2028When home bills would first change, if approved, and when the storm charge would start.

JCP&L says an average customer's total bill would rise about 8.5% and a home's about 8.8%. For a typical home using 767 kWh and paying $162.30 a month now, the company puts the change at $14.23 a month. These are the company's figures for what it asked, not what the BPU will allow.

Status on October 25, 2026: JCP&L asked. We found no BPU decision. A rate case moves in steps: filing, hearings, a settlement or a ruling. This page does not follow those steps day by day. The live record is the BPU docket search, and JCP&L's own news page. Check them before you rely on a date here.

A smaller change is already approved. On September 24, 2026, the BPU approved a settlement on JCP&L's EnergizeNJ grid program. For a typical home using 777 kWh, it adds about $0.10 a month on rates on or after October 1, 2026. That is held open for review in the next rate case.

New Jersey buys supply in a statewide auction each February, in thirds, and the new prices start June 1. The next auction for homes is scheduled to start February 8, 2027, so a new price would start June 1, 2027. These are scheduled dates and can move.

1. October 1, 2026The price to compare reset to 17.05¢.
2. Feb. 8, 2027The state auction that sets the price for homes is scheduled to start.
3. June 1, 2027New supply prices would start. If you buy from JCP&L, your supply price changes even if you do nothing.

How big can a June reset be? At the June 2025 reset, FirstEnergy said a typical JCP&L home at 777 kWh saw a 19.9% rise. At the June 2026 reset, the BPU estimated a typical JCP&L home at 650 kWh moved from $135.24 to $137.47 a month, up 1.6%, before credits. A fixed supplier price does not change on June 1, but it can cost more or less than the new JCP&L price. To trace a jump in your own bill, use our high bill guide.

In the BPU's September 2026 report, 110,452 of JCP&L's 1,056,098 home accounts bought from a supplier, which is 10.5%. A further 54,617 were in a town program. At PSE&G the share was 4.1%. Because no state list shows supplier prices, the counts tell us who switched. They do not tell us who saved.

NJ Power Switch lists 67 suppliers that may sell to JCP&L homes. A licence is not an open plan, and the state's list shows no prices. Check any name on NJ Power Switch, and see our supplier guide for the questions to ask. Want renewable power? See what a green plan really buys.

JCP&L serves 13 counties: Burlington, Essex, Hunterdon, Mercer, Middlesex, Monmouth, Morris, Ocean, Passaic, Somerset, Sussex, Union and Warren, the EIA's 2024 list says. Toms River and Morristown are JCP&L towns. But PSE&G also serves part of Monmouth County. So the name at the top of your bill decides, not the county.

Nine towns run their own electric utility, and part of Sussex County has a co-op. The numbers on this page do not apply there. Our New Jersey page names them.

Use these numbers, from JCP&L's tariff and the BPU.