Behind on Your PSE&G Bill?
PSE&G is New Jersey's largest utility, delivering gas and electric to millions of homes, including Camden, Cherry Hill, and other South Jersey towns we serve every day, plus everywhere else in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. If you're behind and the termination notices have started, filing bankruptcy stops the shutoff and clears the balance.
Qualifying filers may be eligible for our $999 flat fee Chapter 7.
Winter protection ends. The balance doesn't.
New Jersey's Winter Termination Program keeps eligible customers who claim it connected from November 15 through March 15, but the bill keeps growing the whole time, and in spring PSE&G can move toward shutoff again. A deferred payment arrangement helps some people. For everyone else, bankruptcy stops the termination under Section 366 and can wipe out the past-due balance for good.
Where PSE&G debt piles up
- Gas and electric on one bill, so the balance grows twice as fast
- The winter program ended and the arrears came due
- A deferred payment arrangement already fell through
- USF or LIHEAP didn't cover enough of the balance
- A termination notice counting down its 10 days
What bankruptcy can do
- Freeze a PSE&G shutoff on gas and electric the day we file
- Discharge the combined gas-and-electric arrears in Chapter 7
- Bundle both utilities' arrears into one Chapter 13 payment
- Restore service after applying for USF or LIHEAP under New Jersey's customer-rights rules
- Replace a failed deferred payment arrangement with a discharge that clears the balance
Common questions about PSE&G Bill Debt
Does PSE&G serve my part of South Jersey?
PSE&G covers Camden, Cherry Hill, Pennsauken, and a stretch of other Camden County, Burlington County, and northern Gloucester County towns. In some towns it's the electric company only, with gas from South Jersey Gas. Most of the rest of South Jersey is Atlantic City Electric territory. Whoever your utility is, the bankruptcy protections work the same way.
I'm protected by the winter program. Should I wait?
The Winter Termination Program is real protection, but it only pauses the shutoff. The balance keeps accruing, and collection resumes when the window closes in March. If the debt is beyond catching up, filing sooner clears it sooner, and you don't need to wait for a shutoff notice to act.
What about USF, Fresh Start, or LIHEAP?
Use them. New Jersey's assistance programs lower the going-forward bills, and the state's customer-rights rules reward applying: showing PSE&G an application can restore service without a fresh deposit or reconnection charge. If you qualify for USF, its Fresh Start program can also forgive the overdue balance you had when you enrolled, one twelfth for each month you pay your current bill in full. Fresh Start is available once every five years. If you're over the income limit, have already used Fresh Start, or the PSE&G balance is one debt among many, the bankruptcy discharge is what clears it.
Will PSE&G shut me off because I filed?
No, not for the filing itself. Section 366 does build in one deadline, though: you have to give PSE&G adequate assurance, usually a deposit, within 20 days of the case starting, or it can move to discontinue after that. We handle that step for you, and the amount has to be reasonable, so the old balance never becomes the reason the lights go out.