BERKELEY – Residents will be invited to sign up to an energy bill reduction program made possible because of a new solar farm that was completed last year.
Jim Kenny, a representative of Think Energy, said during the most recent Township Council meeting that every resident is guaranteed at least 20 percent off of the supply and delivery of electricity.
Residents would need to go online at ThinkEnergy.com/Berkeley to sign up, he said. They need the information on their current electric bill.
They would remain a Jersey Central Power and Light customer; it’s just that they would pay less for their electricity, he said. Residents can opt out at any time without penalty.
They are signing up a number of residents and at least half must be low-to-moderate income residents, he said.
“The developer can’t turn the farm on until 51% is low-to-moderate income,” he said.
Think Energy’s Jim Kenny answered questions from the governing body at a recent Township Council meeting. (Photo by Chris Lundy)
In addition to the residents saving money, the developer of the farm is giving the town revenue for 20 years, Kenny said.
He said that the Inflation Reduction Act (of 2022) provided subsidies in order to make this happen.
The landfill on Pinewald-Keswick Road in Bayville hasn’t been used in half a century but it was never properly capped. Capping a landfill prevents rainwater from washing pollutants out of the landfill and into the soil and groundwater beneath.
It costs millions of dollars to cap a landfill. Instead of the town doing it, CS Energy and Luminace closed the landfill without costing taxpayers. The company will make money off the solar energy and provide discounts to residents.
At the public unveiling of the solar fields, dubbed Eagle 1 and 2, Gov. Phil Murphy thanked the Biden administration for providing $156 million in New Jersey solar projects that are helping conduct this process throughout the state.
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