The New Jersey Appellate Division reviewed the Board of Public Utilities’ inaction. The Board issued a letter to third-party energy suppliers in which the Board prohibited them from passing through a price increase to their fixed- or firm-rate customers. When the suppliers could not negotiate a stalemate over a price-increase issue, they filed a petition with the Board seeking an expedited hearing. The Board repeatedly delayed addressing the issue, and eventually issued a letter attempting to resolve the issue, but stopped short of providing the requested hearing. On appeal, the Appellate Division held that the Board’s unexplained failure to address the petition for more than twenty months was arbitrary, capricious, and unreasonable. The Court remanded for the requested hearing.
