NJ Readies for Green Future but Say Little About Costs

August 27, 2021 | njspotlightnews.org

In the past few years, the state approved building three large wind farms off the New Jersey coast. It ordered gas and electric utilities to curb customers’ energy use and it adopted a new program to begin electrifying the transportation sector.

What it hasn’t done is explain what these shifts in policy will end up costing ratepayers and whether the public will find it affordable. Such an analysis was first promised to the public in a new Energy Master Plan released in January 2020, then later in the first quarter of that year, and most recently in a new study not expected to be concluded for a year-and-half.

NJ SEED: January 27, 2020 the Murphy Administration unveiled the NJ Energy Master Plan, which put forth key strategies to reach the Administration’s goal of 100 percent clean energy by 2050. Many stake- hollers began asking for details on projected costs to ratepayers. More that 930 days later and still no definitive answers from the BPU, the agency responsible for implementation.