New Jersey Data Center Electric Grid Upgrade Cost Legislation

passed assembly

A bill passed by the New Jersey General Assembly requires large data centers using at least 100 megawatts of electricity to pay for the grid infrastructure upgrades needed to support their power demand. The bill aims to prevent households and small businesses from subsidizing the costs associated with providing power to these data centers or paying for stranded costs if the data centers reduce power usage or shut down. The legislation mandates utilities to design special rate structures for these data centers and requires them to pay for at least 85% of the power they request for a period of 10 years.