Governor Sherrill Declares State of Emergency for NJ Electricity Costs

In her first official acts as governor, Mikie Sherrill declared a statewide emergency over New Jersey’s worsening electricity supply and affordability crisis—fueled by soaring demand from data centers and a PJM grid that can no longer guarantee reliable service or predictable prices. Sherrill signed her first two executive orders onstage at her inauguration, ordering the Board of Public Utilities to open solicitations for a rapid build-out of solar, battery storage, and virtual power plants, and sweeping changes to utility interconnection and permitting rules. She also created a Nuclear Power Task Force and directed every state agency to fast-track energy projects to head off brownouts, blackouts, and further price spikes. “The ongoing electricity affordability crisis in our State constitutes a state of emergency,” Sherrill wrote. “We must provide short-term relief and begin long-term reform.” Her order freezes electricity supply rate increases and requires greater transparency and accountability from utilities. This was among the promises Sherrill made as a candidate for governor in 2025. Executive Order No. 1 focuses on immediate rate relief and a top-to-bottom review of utility costs. Executive Order No. 2 targets the underlying problem: the state does not have enough power to meet its demand, and without swift action, the system could buckle. “Without the swift addition of new generation… the grid’s reliability will be threatened during peak times, which could potentially lead electric distribution utilities to deliberately restrict power… or cause brownouts and blackouts,” the Sherrill order stated. PJM — the 13-state grid operator serving New Jersey, has predicted peak demand will jump 20% by 2030, largely because of the explosive growth of energy-hungry data centers. Its recent capacity auctions have already saddled New Jersey customers with more than $4 billion in new obligations. In the most recent auction, PJM failed to secure enough reserve capacity to meet its own reliability standard—an unprecedented gap equivalent to the annual electricity usage of almost every home in the state. Sherrill’s order noted that residential electricity prices rose more than 33% between June 2023 and June 2025, with overall customer prices up nearly 30%. PJM’s capacity prices surged more than 800% in 2024. The new governor also ordered regulators and utilities to crack down on “ghost load” – a practice of duplicative or speculative interconnection requests from large power users, especially data centers, that artificially inflate demand projections and worsen the regional capacity crunch. The administration believes this phantom demand is pushing costs higher for families and businesses.