22% Jump in Electricity Rates Dominates New Jersey Governor's Race

Data centers in the PJM RTO are driving up rates.

> Even as the N.J. Board of Public Utilities increased its electric bill relief for eligible customers, a full recovery from surging electric costs doesn’t look to be part of the long-term prognosis for high energy bills as data center growth is at the epicenter of capacity market conditions.

> “The current conditions in the capacity market are almost entirely the result of large load additions from data centers, both actual historical and forecast,” the first part of a multi-layered and comprehensive report prepared for PJM found. “The growth in data center load and the expected future growth in data center load are unique and unprecedented and uncertain, and require a different approach than simply asserting that it is just supply and demand.”

https://www.thesandpaper.net/articles/data-center-demand-fue...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PJM_Interconnection

https://www.datacenterwatch.org/report

"In 2023, New Jersey had a total summer capacity of 16,838 MW through all of its power plants, and a net generation of 64,228 GWh.[2] In 2024, the electrical energy generation mix was 49.6% natural gas, 45% nuclear, 2.9% solar, 1.1% biomass, 0.3% other gases, less than 0.1% petroleum and wind, and 1% other" [1].

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_power_stations_in_New_...