TRENTON – Acting to determine the impact of data centers on electric usage and consumer costs, the Senate today approved a bill sponsored by Senator John Burzichelli and Senator Linda Greenstein that would have the Board of Public Utilities conduct a study on the effects of these centers on utility use and expenses.
The bill, S-4318/A-5466, was approved with a vote of 38-0 and sent to the Governor.
“These high-tech data centers that are proliferating throughout the state consume a large amount of electrical power,” said Senator Burzichelli (D-Gloucester/Salem/Cumberland). “We need to know if their impact on the energy supply and the estimate of electrical consumption is causing rate increases for everyday consumers. Residential ratepayers should not be forced to subsidize data centers.”
According to the legislation, the BPU’s study would determine if ratepayers were incurring unreasonable increases to support new transmission, distribution or generation facilities for the centers and calculate the portion of rates attributable to the demands of data facilities.
The study would also assess the need for special “tariffs” applied to the centers to compensate for costs they impose on other PJM customers.
According to a recent study, the PJM regional market holds the highest concentration of data centers globally, and the industry growth expected to increase significantly.
“New Jersey is experiencing its own expansion in data centers with the growth of AI-focused computer companies,” said Senator Greenstein (D-Middlesex/Mercer. “This concentrated growth has implications for the regional grid, including an impact on the supply of energy and consumer costs. We need to make sure these centers are paying their fair share and that the costs aren’t falling on non-data center customers.”
The study would also look at longer-term considerations to see if investments in the power infrastructure will be needed to accommodate the demands of the data centers. The results of the study would have to be submitted to the Legislature and the Governor within 15 months.