Gov. Mikie Sherrill: New Jersey Was Facing an ‘Affordability Crisis’ Driven by Rising Utility Costs

RUSH EXCERPT:

SHERRILL: “As I went around the state, we had an affordability crisis. I don’t think that’s news to anybody, but one of those key drivers of cost was our utility costs. They had gone up by double digits last year. They were set to go up by another double digits this year. And it was largely because between data centers and utility companies and our grid operator, they were making a whole host of decisions, many of them poor decisions that were not leading to better utility, better grid, but were actually leading to higher costs. But they all made money, you know, they were they were never left holding the bag, but the ratepayers were. So when I got into office, I declared a state of emergency on utility costs. In the middle of my inaugural address, I stopped it and froze rate hikes with executive orders. We’ve continued to expand power generation, so we have about 18 new solar and battery storage projects. Just yesterday, I signed legislation to hold data centers and utility companies and the grid operators accountable."