A post-Hurricane Sandy storm has been brewing in New Jersey since PSE&G filed an infrastructure-hardening project with the Board of Public Utilities last year. The utility is seeking $3.9 billion to fortify power grid infrastructure flooded during the hurricane.

The BPU is balking at the price and questioning the extent to which customers will benefit from the project that will increase their electricity bills, but PSE&G CEO Ralph Izzo says that fact that these substations and switch gear were flooded during the storm proves the equipment needs to be moved or raised.

Izzo is quoted by NJ.com as saying, “It’s so rare to have a point in time where the environment is so perfect to do something that needs to be done: low interest rates, available labor, low gas prices, expiring charges.”

But defending the regulator’s position, Rate Counsel director Stefanie Brand responded to Izzo thusly:

“I’m sorry he’s frustrated by having to prove what they’re proposing to do is the right thing. But when asking for billions of dollars, that’s the way it works.”