A 5583 New Jersey General Assembly · 2024-2025 Regular Session

Prohibits certain public utilities from charging residents of multi-unit dwellings meter-reading fees in certain circumstances.

This bill prohibits electric and gas utilities from charging residential customers in multi-unit dwellings (like apartments) a meter-reading fee that exceeds the actual cost of their electricity or gas usage for the billing period. It specifically targets fees charged to customers who opted out of smart meter installation and require manual meter readings. Utilities must cap these fees at the precise cost of the customer's usage, preventing overcharging for manual reading services. The law applies immediately upon enactment and defines key terms like "meter-reading fee" and "smart meter" in the bill text.
Bill status passed 3 of 5 stages cleared
Introduction
May 2025
Committee Review
Jan 2026
General Assembly Passage
Dec 2025
Senate Passage
Governor
Introduced May 5, 2025 Last action Jan 6, 2026
Floor votes · General Assembly Dec 22, 2025

How they voted

720
Passed · 6 other
Total votes 78
Dec 22, 2025
D Democratic50
47 Yea 3
94% Yea
R Republican28
25 Yea 3
89% Yea
Vote distribution
All Yea All Nay Mixed No data
Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
6
Key actions
2
Committee
2
Jan 6, 2026
Committee
Received in the Senate, Referred to Senate Economic Growth Committee
upper
Dec 22, 2025
Lower · Passed
Passed Assembly (74-0-0)
lower
Dec 11, 2025
Lower · Passed
Reported out of Assembly Committee with Amendments, 2nd Reading
lower
May 5, 2025
Introduced
Introduced in the Assembly, Referred to Assembly Telecommunications and Utilities Committee
lower
3 primary · 2 co-sponsors

Sponsors