Several factors may bring higher fall energy bills
By: Lucas Frau
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey
..... New Jersey residents saw their electric bills skyrocket this past summer. [2025]
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The scorching heat usually brings higher electricity bills, but will fall result in much-needed relief?
..... Cooler temperatures typically signal cheaper electricity bills. Still, a rate hike of about 20% went into effect earlier this year [2025] and will continue to affect New Jersey residents.
..... The energy Information Administration predicted the average costs of electricity bill in fall 2025. The estimate is made by observing past trends in electricity demands and revenues collected by New Jersey utility companies, which include PSE&G, PCPL, Atlantic City electric and Orange & Rockland, said a spokesperson from the administration.
..... The EIA supplied NorthJersey.com with data on past average electricity bills in fall seasons.
..... Forecasts provided by the EIA can only give regional estimates for the average monthly electricity bills for the months of September, October and November. New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania are included in the Mid-Atlantic region.
..... The Mid-Atlantic region, said the forecast from the EIA, is expected to see an average monthly electricity bill of $127.36 for the fall months. This is an 8% increase from the previous year, [2024] when the average bill was $117.73 for the fall months, the EIA said.
..... The growth in manufacturing, expected weather changes, the recent utility rate increase and several other factors play a role in the expected rise in the average electricity bill, said EIA spokesperson Chris Higginbotham.
..... The EIA also has public information deployed that shows the quarterly electricity consumption in the Mid-Atlantic dating back to early 2010.
..... the last quarter of the year is typically when the least electricity is consumed, the EIA chart shows. In the final months of 2025, the projected amount of electricity used in the Mid-Atlantic is 84.78 billion kilowatt-hours. The electricity used in the summer months of 2026 in the region is expected to reach 106.41 billion kilowatt-hours, the highest energy consumption since the sumer of 2018.
..... While neighboring New York and Pennsylvania were included in the forecast, the EIA listed what only New Jersey saw in average monthly electricity bills in the fall during previous years.
Spike in utility rates
..... Short-term solutions have been offered by the state, but the looming issue is causing concern for many.
..... "These utility prices are unsustainable for New Jersey;s working families, who are already struggling with too many rising costs. These include costs for helaht care, housing, child care and grocery bills," said Dena Mottola Jaborsks, executive director of New Jersey Citizen Aston, a grassroots organization advocating for economic protection for everyone in the state. "we need Governor Murphy, our incoming governor and our legislative leadership to come together and address these crisis."
..... In June 2025, New Jersey homes saw electricity bill increases of 17% to 20% depending on their provider.
..... Why did the rates go up? In simple terms, there is not enough supply to meet the high demand.
..... PJM Interconnection is the regional energy operator hat runs the electric grid for the 13 states in the Mid-Atlantic region, including New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland, and some parts f the Midwest.
..... Demand for energy has been on a constant rise, not just in New Jersey but across the country. One reason is hotter summers. July 2025 was the six-hottest July in New Jersey;s history, said a report from State Climatologist David Robinson.
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Another reason for the high demand for electricity is that AI data centers across the state use an enormous amount of energy.
..... The AI centers accounted for about two-thirds of the capacity price surge in 2025, according to PJM's Independent Market Monitor. the report said AI data centers are the largest contributing actor in the rising cost of energy. Data centers account for 4% of the total PJM energy load and are expect to take up 12% of energy consumption by 2030.
..... To combat the increased demand caused by AI data centers, Jaborska, of New Jersey Citizen Action, said those centers should pay for the electricity they are consuming.
..... "AI comes Online very energy-hungry. That costs a lot of money, and that is the problem." Jaborska said. "the solution must be to make these data centers take responsibility for the increased need for energy. They need to pay their fair share instead of passing those costs on to us."
..... Supply for energy has not been rising with the demand, and New Jersey residents are suffering the consequences, she said.
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The lack of supply comes from the"chaos" in the energy grid's interconnection queue, causing a lack of energy sources across the state.
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The queue is the list of energy projects that are waiting to be connected to the grid and need approval from PJM. those projects, a vast majority of them being solar, storage or wind, have been stuck in the queue for years, some bing forced to withdraw or have their construction delayed.
..... Power plants that have been shut down across the state, due to negative effects on the environment, also contributed to the energy grid;s lack of energy supply.
..... Democrats including gubernatorial candidate Representative Mikie Sherrill blame PJM for the backlog of energy projects that are stacked in the queue and vows that as governor she would eliminate delays, declare a state of emergency on utility costs and take PJM and utility companies to court to find out the holdup.
..... Republicans point the finger at Democrats for the crisis in utility costs. Republican gubernatorial mandate and former Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli said that as governor he would help the state's energy supply by reopening power plants closed by Murphy, ending current state policies such as offshore wind and electrical vehicle mandates, and pulling New Jersey from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, which he said would save rate payers over $300 million.
..... Jaborska is a strong advocate of clean energy solutions and urges PJM to connect clean energy to the regional grid. She blames the federal government for canceling subsidies on clean energy for the delays on the projects.
..... Senator Andrew Zwicker, D-Hillsborough, who also works as a scientist on fusion energy at Princeton University, suggests New Jersey make data centers bring their own clean energy to offset the costs that are put on residents, because the state still wants to attract AI businesses.