New Jersey electric customers will soon get a modest break on their power bills.
Every electric customer in the Garden State will receive a one-time $25 credit on their August bill, Gov. Mikie Sherrill announced, calling the credits “a $90 million investment in affordability.”
“ I'm putting money back in your pockets now,” Sherrill said at an event on Tuesday where she also signed a trio of bills aimed at lowering electric costs in the long term.
Low-income residents will also receive separate $50 rebates on their August, September and October bills through the state’s Residential Energy Assistance Payment. Eligible households are automatically enrolled in the program.
The assistance efforts are similar to steps former Gov. Phil Murphy’s administration took last year, when $50 credits were applied to all electric bills in September and October. Additional benefits for low-income residents were set at $25 per month for up to seven months total.
New Jersey electric prices spiked upwards of 20% last summer, the result of a power supply crunch in the state and across the territory of PJM, the regional power grid serving the Garden State. The pressures driving prices up remain: Data center development is driving power demand higher as efforts to connect new power sources — especially clean energy sources — to the grid lag behind.
The soaring bills became a focal point of Sherrill’s run for governor and have remained a priority since taking office. She paused her inaugural address to sign a pair of executive orders related to the issue, including a freeze on any state rate hike approvals.
“In her first six months, the governor has already taken actions that will save ratepayers over $1 billion a year,” Steve Sigmund, a spokesperson for Sherrill, said in a statement. “And she isn’t stopping there.”
Brian Lipman is the director of the state Division of the Rate Counsel, which advocates for ratepayer costs. He said the direct relief on bills is good, but larger policy changes will bring substantially more relief over time.
“If you're a resident who's living paycheck-to-paycheck, $25, $50 can be a big deal. It could be very helpful to you. If you're somebody whose electric bill is typically $600 a month in the summer because you're running your air conditioning, $25 is nice to have, but it's not going to make a big difference in your bill,” Lipman said. “ I think a better way is to try and reduce the actual rate that people are paying.”
Sherrill signed three bills into law on Tuesday that aim to do just that. One mandates that electric companies in the state be members of a regional transmission organization — which they all already are — and eliminates a state incentive that paid the companies for doing so when membership was voluntary. Another bill places additional state oversight on utility spending for new transmission projects, with the goal of making sure any such spending is actually necessary and being done with the most modern technology.
The New Jersey Utilities Association, which lobbies on behalf of the state’s electric companies, did not respond to a request for comment.
The final bill signed Tuesday creates a new ratepayer class for data centers — allowing utilities to charge large energy users at different rates than other customers — while incentivizing data center operators to connect new sources of clean energy to the power grid.
Francesca Hsie, the electricity affordability policy lead for the centrist think tank Third Way, praised Sherrill’s efforts so far.
“ All of these can reduce costs over the long term and, coupled with some near-term relief, like the rebates, can really help New Jersey families afford energy both now and into the future,” Hsie said.
Mike Hayes contributed reporting.
