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New Jersey American Water wants to increase its customers’ water bills to help fund more than $1 billion in water and wastewater projects.

The investor-owned utility said the average customer could expect to pay an additional $10 per month if the request is approved by the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities. That could make the average monthly residential water bill rise to $93.89.

Customers served by sanitary wastewater systems would see an average increase of $8 per month. Households that receive both services could see a combined impact of about $18 per month, depending on their service area, meter size, and usage.

New Jersey American Water said the rate increase is essential to improve aging infrastructure, replace dangerous lead service lines and address toxic chemicals such as PFAS. President Mark McDonough said the revenue would ensure the company can deal with problems before they become acute.

“This rate case is really aimed at the investments we’re already making to stay ahead of problems,” he said. “If we do good planning and we’re proactive in prudent investment, we can really keep our customers receiving safe, reliable water and we maintain the affordability that we have.”

The request comes roughly 16 months after the company increased rates by more than $5 per month.

Water infrastructure across the U.S. is aging, and according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the nation needs at least $630 billion over the next 20 years for stormwater and wastewater projects alone. When combined with drinking water upgrades, water providers need a total of more than $1 trillion.

“Rate increases are definitely something that we see all around the country because of upward pressure on rates that’s driven by the need to invest in aging water systems,” said Larry Levine, a senior attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council’s environmental health program.

Water providers are faced with new federal regulations requiring them to remove toxic chemicals such as PFAS from drinking water, replace lead pipes and to reduce wastewater discharges into waterways. Though the federal government under the Biden administration set aside billions of dollars to upgrade water and sewer infrastructure, providers say more funding is needed.

Pennsylvania American Water similarly filed a request with the Pennsylvania Utility Commission in November to fund $1.2 billion in water and wastewater system upgrades. If approved, the average water customer would pay an additional $14 per month on their bills.

While some rate increase is expected, it is unlikely that New Jersey American Water will be awarded the full request, said Brian Lipman, director of the New Jersey Division of the Rate Counsel, a state agency that advocates to keep costs affordable for ratepayers. He said the agency does its best to ensure rate increases are necessary to support infrastructure investments without unduly impacting consumers.

In an effort to alleviate the burden on rate payers, New Jersey American Water is seeking approval from the BPU to expand access to monthly bill discounts through its H2O Help to Others program. The company is asking to automatically enroll customers who partake in energy assistance programs like the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, or LIHEAP. If approved, New Jersey American Water would be the only utility in the state to offer automatic enrollment in water bill assistance.

“Water is so fundamental to sustaining life,” McDonough said. “We think it’s very important to have this kind of forward thinking program to be able to help those folks who may need some assistance.”

New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill issued an executive order last week that aims to pause further rate increases for energy. However, no similar action has been taken for water bills and there’s currently no state-run program to help residents pay their water bills.

Snow and ice forecasts continue to shift for major winter storm that will hit New Jersey starting tonight, with a surging threat of significant icing and power outages for parts of the state.

“There is high confidence in major impacts from snowfall, sleet, and ice accumulations across much of the area, making travel very difficult, and potentially resulting in widespread closures and infrastructure impacts,” the National Weather Service said early Saturday. “Travel could be nearly impossible.”

Snowfall total forecasts for the southern half of the state have been lowered slightly due to more mixing with sleet and freezing rain Sunday afternoon.

But forecasters cautioned that means more dangerous ice in addition to snowfall and potential power outages.

“There is an increasing threat for impactful ice accumulations, on top of the heavy snow that falls tonight and tomorrow morning,” the weather service said. “Ice/sleet on top of snow will result in VERY hazardous travel conditions.”

Gov. Mikie Sherrill declared a state of emergency starting at 5 p.m. Saturday. A commercial vehicle travel ban will also be in effect on major highways.

“I’m urging New Jerseyans to make plans to avoid travel Saturday evening and all day Sunday,” Sherrill said during a Friday press conference.

The entire state is also under a winter storm warning.

Snow is expected to start falling overnight and continue through Monday, which will likely result in school closures.

“Snow begins after midnight tonight, with the heaviest snow occurring daytime Sunday into Sunday evening (1-2 inches per hour rates likely),” the weather service said. “The storm winds down into Monday morning, with very cold conditions through the week.”

Northern New Jersey counties, which should see all or mostly snow during the storm, remain on track for the highest snowfall totals of 12 to 16 inches, with locally higher amounts closer to 18 inches possible.

“Snowfall rates near 1-2 inches per hour expected during the daytime period Sunday,” the weather service said.

The major ice threat is concentrated along the New Jersey Turnpike, particularly in southwestern counties near Philadelphia.

“There remains a threat for notable ice accumulations ranging from 0.1 to 0.3 inches across the I-95 corridor, southern New Jersey,” the national weather service said. “The combination of heavy snow followed by sleet/freezing rain and breezy northeast winds gusting 20-30 mph could result in some isolated instances of downed trees and power lines, and power outages.”

These ice accumulations will occur after 4 to 8 inches or 8 to 12 inches of snow has already fallen, the weather service said.

County-by-county storm warnings

• Burlington, Camden, Cumberland, Gloucester, Hunterdon, Mercer, Middlesex, Monmouth, Morris, Ocean, Salem and Somerset – From 7 p.m. Saturday to 1 p.m. Monday. Heavy snow with mixed precipitation expected. Total snow and sleet accumulations between 7 and 13 inches and ice accumulations up to three-tenths of an inch. Ice accumulation on power lines and tree limbs may cause tree damage and power outages.
• Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Union and eastern Passaic – From 3 a.m. Sunday to 6 p.m. Monday. Heavy snow expected. The snow may mix with or change to sleet Sunday evening. Total snow and sleet accumulations between 10 and 14 inches. A brief changeover to light freezing rain along with a light glaze of ice may occur Sunday night.
• Western Passaic – From 3 a.m. Sunday to 6 p.m. Monday. Heavy snow expected. Total snow accumulations between 12 and 16 inches. Sleet may briefly mix in with the snow Sunday night.
• Atlantic and Cape May – From 7 p.m. Saturday to 7 a.m. Monday. Heavy snow with mixed precipitation expected. Total snow and sleet accumulations between 4 and 8 inches and ice accumulations up to one-tenth of an inch. Winds gusting as high as 35 mph.
• Sussex and Warren – From 1 a.m. Saturday to 1 p.m. Monday. Heavy snow expected. Total snow and sleet accumulations between 11 and 15 inches.

Forecast for Saturday

Dangerous cold conditions continue through Saturday morning with wind chills below zero for most of New Jersey.

A cold weather advisory is in effect for New Jersey through 10 a.m.

Highs on Saturday will only reaching the upper teens to low 20s ahead of the storm.

Brutally cold week

Arctic air will remain in place through the upcoming week with temperatures below freezing into Friday.

Monday may be the mildest day of the week, with highs in the upper 20s to low 30s, though a strong cold front Monday night will send lows crashing into the single digits.

Wind chills as low as 10 degrees below zero are possible Tuesday morning.

Highs on Tuesday will struggle to reach the teens and low 20s.

The rest of the week is expected to continue with similar temperatures. Lows will remain in the single digits through Friday.

As a result of this prolonged cold, the new snow is not expected to melt much.

Current weather radar