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Power politics: Clean energy remains N.J.’s best shot at lower electric bills - New Jersey families saw power bills spike 415% this summer as PJM’s capacity costs soared from $2.2B to $14.7B. With offshore wind stalled, coal and nuclear retired, and imported power driving costs, the fight over New Jersey’s energy future is heating up.
You opened your electric bill last month, and it was $66. This month it’s $340. Same house, same usage, but 415% jump in costs..
That’s what New Jersey reporter Katie Kausch saw on her own bill from JCP&L this summer. And she’s not alone. Customers all over New Jersey are furious.
Why? Because PJM Interconnection raised the price of securing electricity from $2.2 billion last year to $14.7 billion this year, and those costs are being passed on to you as consumers.
Critics blame Gov. Phil Murphy for betting too heavily on offshore wind projects that collapsed when the developer, Ørsted, canceled Wind 1 and 2 in October 2023 because inflation, high interest rates, and supply chain delays made the projects uneconomical.
Others blame Donald Trump, who stalled off-shore wind projects on his first day in office and stripped away federal support for clean energy, and as recently as last month, halted work on a wind farm nearing completion off the coast of Rhode Island.
Meanwhile, coal and nuclear are fading in New Jersey. Oyster Creek nuclear plant closed in 2018. The state’s last coal plants retired in the early 2020s. That left New Jersey exposed and dependent on imported power, which we now know how cruel the cost of that can be.
That leaves two solutions that can actually deliver relief in the near future—solar and batteries. They’re cheaper, faster to build, and already popular with a majority of New Jersey residents. By contrast, new fossil or nuclear plants can take a decade or more to complete.
Residents don’t have four to ten years. Their bill is rising now.
This fall, Republican Jack Ciattarelli says he’ll ban offshore wind and expand natural gas. Democrat Mikie Sherrill says she’ll put more money into solar and nuclear.
But the real question isn’t which one to pick. Why can’t we do all three—nuclear, solar, and natural gas—so they complement each other instead of being at odds? New Jersey needs reliability and affordability, and no single source will get us there on its own.
Because this fight is bigger than one month’s bill, it’s about whether families can keep the lights on without sacrificing groceries. It’s about whether New Jersey keeps chasing short fixes or invests in energy that delivers stability and affordability.
Clean, renewable energy isn’t only about the climate. It’s about your budget, your independence, and your future.