Today, New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill signed a package of bills focused on energy affordability and lowering costs for families. The landmark legislative package is headlined by a historic, first-of-its-kind data center tariff that incentivizes data centers to bring their own new, clean generation or energy storage to meet their needs and support community power. In response, Evergreen Northeast and Mid-Atlantic Regional Director Eric Miller released the following statement:
“When Governor Sherrill was elected, she promised to fight to lower energy costs for Garden State families. Today, she’s delivering on that promise—and establishing New Jersey as the national model for tackling the affordability crisis and the climate crisis at the same time.
“This package will slow rising electricity costs, hold utilities accountable, and deliver savings New Jersey families will feel right away, while putting in place long-term reforms to modernize the grid and make the energy system cleaner. The first-in-the-nation data center tariff, coupled with incentives for data centers to bring their own new, clean power, is a groundbreaking approach to protecting consumers and the climate at a watershed moment for the state. This is what leadership looks like, and it’s just the beginning. Governor Sherrill has established New Jersey as the national leader on energy affordability, and the rest of the country should be paying attention.”
Legislation signed today:
A8796 (Baily Jr.)/S731 (Burzichelli) – Creates a data center tariff that protects consumers, requiring utilities to develop the tariff in a manner that incentivizes data centers to bring their own new, clean generation or energy storage and advances community power by incentivizing and requiring a mechanism for customer-owned generation to be paid for by data centers.
A5188 (Miller)/S4411 (Zwicker) – Requires state regulator approval of supplemental transmission projects and incentivizes the use of advanced transmission technologies.
A2757 (Katz)/S1673 (Zwicker) – Requires transmission owners to join PJM Interconnection, immediately delivering $60 million a year in savings to ratepayers.
