Slew Of Energy Bills Headed To Governor’s Desk

By: Madison Miller
The Legislature on Monday sent Governor Phil Murphy a package of energy bills designed to review any PJM Interconnection involvement in higher electricity rates and to determine how best to handle huge energy grid demands from mega data centers.

The spate of bills was a response to soaring electric bills this month. Democrats have targeted PJM Interconnection, the manager of the multi-state Northeast electricity grid, as the main culprit. New Jersey utilities buy power from PJM and resell it to consumers. The regional transmitter has said the rate auction it conducted last year had federal regulators’ approval, and it’s warned for years that the country needs more power plants.

Legislators also passed bills that would deal more broadly with utilities statewide, including:

A5463/S4363 would require public utilities to submit board meeting details to the Legislature and the governor, through the Board of Public Utilities. The reports, including agendas and minutes, would be filed by Feb. 1 of each year. The information would provide rationales about whether the votes worked toward state goals on affordability, reliability and sustainability for electricity production, consumption and conservation.

S4289/A5267 would authorize the Board of Public Utilities to offer incentives and programs for construction of “transmission-scale energy storage systems,” or large energy storage for the PJM grid.  These storage systems would have to provide 5 megawatts of energy to consumers, which is roughly enough to power 5,000 homes. Such storage “will help us to have a more resilient grid, one where you won’t get killed in the capacity auctions that PJM holds,” said Senator Bob Smith, a Democrat from Piscataway.

S4293/A5548 would require data centers to release quarterly water and electricity usage reports to the BPU. They would include performance calculations, renewables use and sustainability measures. The utilities board also would be required to publish the reports within 30 days. 

“We have to be careful, because things like data centers for artificial intelligence consume enormous amounts of electricity, and so we want to make sure that if they are going to set up shop in New Jersey, that’s fine, that they don’t do that on the backs of New Jersey ratepayers.” said Senator Andrew Zwicker, a Democrat from South Brunswick. 

Smith, in an interview, said artificial intelligence is part of the future only if the centers provide their own energy. “If you bring your own electricity, especially if it’s green, you’re not going to  make the situation worse,” Smith said. 

S4361/A5563 would prohibit residential utility cutoffs from June 15-Aug. 31.  Zwicker called this bill “an important one in terms of helping people who are just trying to make ends meet when access to air conditioning is no longer a luxury, it’s a necessity.” 

S4423 would authorize the BPU to approve sites for small modular nuclear reactors and storage plans for spent radioactive fuel. It also would provide incentives for reactor construction and operation. Nuclear, Zwicker said, “has got to be a piece of the overall energy equation.”

SR133 urges the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to reject the results of PJM’s 2025/2026 auction, and initiate a rebid.