CARTER: Energy costs aren’t just a pandemic issue

The issue of energy burden has been getting a lot of attention lately as an unprecedented number of New Jersey families continue to struggle to keep up with gas heating/cooling and electric bills.  

The statewide utility shut-off moratorium offers security for the next few months, but utilities were a financial hardship for many of us long before COVID-19 and that won’t end when Gov. Murphy calls an end to the pandemic.  

Low-income families need energy relief for the long term, not just in the midst of a crisis. The catch is that we’re already paying for energy assistance programs, but much of the money we put in never makes it back to us. 

Seven years ago, long before the pandemic, I was a recipient of the Comfort Partners energy efficiency assistance program. The funding allowed me to buy a new heater, weatherize my windows and patio door and make critical repairs to my kitchen and bathroom that I would not have been able to afford as a single mother and homeowner.  

I can say that Comfort Partners was a true blessing. I was able to keep my home healthy and warm in the short term and in the long term I used less energy and saved hundreds of dollars each year on my electric bills. 

I was charged nothing for these improvements, but I actually did help pay for them. Comfort Partners is funded through a program under the Board of Public Utilities called the Clean Energy Program. Along with energy efficiency assistance programs, the Clean Energy Program supports renewable energy development, green job training and more.  

All New Jerseyans pay into the Clean Energy Fund, the pool of money intended for the Clean Energy Program, through a portion of our electric bill known as the Societal Benefits Charge.  

Low-income households actually tend to contribute a larger portion of our energy bills, and this investment is supposed to come back to us in the form of cleaner air, economic opportunity and lower energy costs – all critical needs for our health and financial resilience.  

I now run a veterans’ services and advocacy nonprofit called Sanctuary for Veterans. I see that programs like Comfort Partners could ease the strain of energy costs for many of the housing insecure veterans I work with.  

Expanding funding for programs like Comfort Partners could help thousands more New Jersey households to not only stave off utility shut-offs this year, but to stop spending so much of our income on energy – so that we know with certainty every year that we’ll be able to stay warm, keep the lights on and make necessary repairs.   

It’s clear that these programs need to reach more people, especially right now. Yet a large percentage of the money we all pay in never even makes it to the Clean Energy Program.  

This year’s proposed budget includes a raid to the CEF of more than $80 million, roughly one quarter of the entire fund. These raids date back to the Corzine administration.  

Gov. Murphy pledged to end them on the campaign trail, but they’ve continued at about the same level each year since he took office, robbing programs like Comfort Partners of an accumulative $2 billion during the last 10 years.  

But this year, it’s harder to ignore the impact of high energy costs. This is the budget season for our governor and legislature to recognize that what happens to the CEF has consequences for families like mine and those I work with.  

To put the CEF back where it belongs is to make a commitment not only to keep people’s lights on for the next few months, but to return an investment we’ve already made so our communities can survive and thrive for the long haul. 

LaShaunda Carter is the founder and director of Sanctuary Foundation for Veterans in Willingboro.