According to a Senate Democratic Joint Economic Committee report<\/a> released in early November, the average American household will pay about $100 more for electricity this year, with electric bills rising in 47 states.\u00a0<\/p>\n New Jersey has the goal of 100 percent clean electricity by 2035<\/a>, meaning all electricity sold in the state must come from \u201cclean\u201d sources under its strengthened Clean Energy Standard. This is accompanied by targets like 11 GW of offshore wind by 2040 and 2 GW of energy storage by 2030. But these are long-term build-outs, many of which are still being procured and, in the case of offshore wind, have faced challenges due to the retreat in federal support<\/a> for the sector.<\/p>\n \u201cThe extreme hikes we are currently seeing are almost entirely attributable to data centers and their tremendous load,\u201d Brian Lipman, director of New Jersey Rate Counsel, an independent state agency representing electricity consumers,<\/a> said in an email.<\/p>\n PJM Interconnection, the regional grid operator for Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic states, estimates that data centers alone will add about 30 GW in demand for the entire region by 2030, a demand equivalent to adding about 20 million homes to the grid.<\/p>\n Brendan Pierpont, the energy modeling chief of nonpartisan energy and climate think tank Energy Innovation<\/a>, also pointed to PJM Interconnection\u2019s slow progress in connecting more projects to the grid to match the increased demand.<\/p>\n As of Nov. 12, there are about 1,330 projects<\/a> totaling at least 100 GW in capacity that are still waiting for interconnection with PJM. Most of the projects held up are renewables. According to a report by energy market intelligence firm Aurora Energy Research<\/a>, if even about 10 percent of those renewables could be connected by 2026, they could have reduced the capacity price<\/a>\u2014the charge on electric bills that largely drove the recent price hikes\u2014by about a quarter.<\/p>\n \u201cThe reason bills are going up is a simple supply and demand problem. PJM has not built enough supply while also not planning for an increase in demand from data centers,\u201d said Alex Ambrose, an analyst with the nonpartisan think tank New Jersey Policy Perspective. \u201cAll those energy projects aren\u2019t waiting in a queue for Governor Murphy\u2019s approval. They\u2019re waiting for PJM approval.\u201d<\/p>\n Fox News, The Wall Street Journal and the New York Post did not respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n As for plant retirements, coal plants<\/a> like Logan and Chambers shut in 2022, and Oyster Creek nuclear plant<\/a> closed in 2018. Keeping facilities like these running would mean expensive upgrades to meet tighter pollution rules. Retiring them avoids those upgrade costs and cuts pollution that drives asthma and premature deaths.<\/p>\n \u201cCoal plants were uneconomic\u2014they could not make enough money in the markets prior to the data center load. In fact, the coal plants in New Jersey were tied to expensive out-of-market contracts and their closure led to savings for New Jersey ratepayers,\u201d Lipman said.<\/p>\n According to tracking by Media Matters, Murdoch-owned outlets laid the groundwork as early as August by blaming New Jersey\u2019s higher electricity bills on green mandates and plant closures.\u00a0<\/p>\n The opinion articles coincided with the gubernatorial campaign in the Garden State, where Democratic candidate Mikie Sherrill triumphed against Republican Jack Ciattarelli.<\/p>\n A Wall Street Journal op-ed<\/a> by energy executive Paul H. Tice in early August faulted fossil-fuel retirements and the state\u2019s 2035 clean-power target. Two days later, a New York Post op-ed<\/a> tied hikes to \u201cDemocrats\u2019 bungled energy policies.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Within three days, Fox & Friends<\/a> and America\u2019s Newsroom<\/a> followed with reports linking price spikes to coal and nuclear shutdowns. The segments briefly included a counterpoint from then-Democratic gubernatorial candidate Sherrill, who instead put the onus on PJM Interconnection.<\/p>\n Then the drumbeat intensified. Fox Business\u2019 The Big Money Show<\/a> accused a \u201cgreen-obsessed\u201d outgoing Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy of driving up costs. Three days later, the New York Post editorial board<\/a> said \u201cinsane\u201d clean energy policies were to blame, and Fox & Friends further amplified that line with commentary, claiming without basis that summer bills had \u201ctripled\u201d and that Democrats prioritize climate over affordability.<\/p>\n President Donald Trump jumped in on August 19, railing against wind and solar on his social media site Truth Social. Trump called them a \u201cscam<\/a>\u201d and vowed to block them.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, in its endorsement of Republican Ciattarelli on Sept. 27, the New York Post editorial board<\/a> claimed Democrats\u2019 push for zero emissions sent bills soaring. A day after, The Wall Street Journal editorial board<\/a> faulted clean-energy targets and restrictions against gas projects for rising prices.<\/p>\n \u201c[The] actual Democratic policy in New Jersey, and nationwide, is deliberate energy scarcity\u2014and the higher prices that go with it,\u201d the editorial board, which is separate from its news operations, wrote.<\/p>\n Energy experts have sought to correct these claims.<\/p>\n \u201cNew Jersey has been a clean energy policy leader for decades, and if you look back to 2010, electricity prices<\/a> were more or less flat for over a decade, rising slower than inflation until the recent PJM capacity market price surge,\u201d said Pierpont in an email.<\/p>\n Lipman at the New Jersey Rate Counsel said that while some solar and energy-efficiency subsidies<\/a> appear on people\u2019s bills, they did not drive this summer\u2019s sharp price increases, and short-term price bumps from offshore wind<\/a> have yet to show up on bills because they haven\u2019t been built and connected to the grid.<\/p>\n Allison Fisher, the climate and energy director of Media Matters, said this pattern wasn\u2019t new. Murdoch-owned outlets repeatedly blamed clean energy for higher electricity prices to undercut the Inflation Reduction Act<\/a> both before and after its passage in 2022, she said.<\/p>\n \u201cYears before this moment, we already knew what the playbook was. So it definitely was not a surprise,\u201d said Fisher.<\/p>\n Sherrill won the gubernatorial election and will take office on January 20, 2026.<\/p>\n
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