New Jersey Lawmakers Push New Tariffs for “Large-Load” Data Centers

A New Jersey state senate panel advanced a bill that would call for the creation of a new tariff on “large-load” data centers to mitigate their impacts on local power supplies and protect residents and other ratepayers from increased costs, reports Dana DiFilippo in New Jersey Monitor.

New Jersey’s utility rates are already 20 percent higher than the national average.“The bill would require public electric utilities to submit proposed tariffs to the state Board of Public Utilities and incentivize data centers to increase energy efficiency by adopting technologies that capture and use the heat they generate.”

PJM Interconnection, the region’s energy grid operator, says “it expects energy demand in its 13-state service area to grow 32 gigawatts by 2030, with most — 30 gigawatts — coming from data centers.” Alex Ambrose of progressive think tank New Jersey Policy Perspective says that, in lieu of federal regulations, “We need [state] guardrails to protect people from higher bills.”