New Jersey families could have seen their electricity bills rise by as much as 20% this year.

Fortunately, the Legislature and the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities recently took action to mitigate that increase and provide ratepayers with financial relief.

But why were electric bills about to skyrocket?

The regional transmission organization known as PJM Interconnection, which manages the electric grid across 13 states including New Jersey, is failing to keep pace with growing electricity demand.

At the center of the problem is a conflict of interest. PJM’s policies are shaped by votes from the public utilities that profit when energy prices go up and energy is connected inefficiently. These utilities have a say in decisions that ultimately benefit their bottom line, not necessarily the consumer.

The main issue is that PJM is responsible for connecting new energy projects to the grid to replace aging facilities and maintain a steady energy supply. But the process is slow. Before construction can begin, new projects must pass through PJM’s interconnection queue — a system that has been backlogged since 2017 and closed to new entries since 2022.

This isn’t just red tape. The delays in clearing the queue impact financing and permitting, which can take years to secure. PJM now has the slowest interconnection process in the country, and consumers are footing the bill for its inefficiency.

Ironically, there’s already enough new energy stuck in the queue to meet projected increases in demand across the region. But without reform, these projects can’t move forward, and consumers continue to pay higher prices for outdated energy sources.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has stepped in. In 2023, it issued Order 2023, a ruling designed to improve long-term planning, cost allocation and the overall efficiency of regional transmission systems. Instead of working to meet these new standards, PJM requested exemptions from key provisions, undermining the purpose of the reforms and leaving consumers to bear the consequences.

Instead of moving quickly to bring more affordable energy online, PJM is choosing to allow projects that would bring New Jerseyans’ energy bills down to gather dust.

PJM’s challenges stem largely from its stakeholder-driven decision-making process. Governed by numerous committees and subcommittees made up of hundreds of voting members — including New Jersey’s electric utilities — PJM allows private votes on critical matters like approving new energy projects. This complex and bureaucratic structure makes it difficult to track votes, whether public or not.

Simply put, the public utilities that vote to increase our energy bills can do so without any accountability due to zero transparency in how they vote.

That is why I introduced a bill (A-5463), which passed both houses of the Legislature and is awaiting Gov. Murphy’s signature. My bill will require New Jersey’s electric public utilities to disclose the way they vote at PJM.

Increased transparency into how PJM stakeholders vote on proposals would provide public scrutiny into whether public utilities are acting in the interests of the customers they serve. Moreover, accountability would provide the public with the ability to accurately advocate for themselves with PJM stakeholders when they make decisions.

Requiring the disclosure of votes would also allow better coordination between electric public utilities and state energy policies. By gaining insight into how public utilities are voting and the results of those votes, New Jersey state agencies can coordinate their energy goals with strategic planning, facilitating the efficient implementation of renewable energy targets and climate objectives.

PJM’s Capacity Market Auction was recently held, where bidders who are also PJM voting members determined auction prices that will significantly impact utility rates for 65 million customers for the next two years. The prices for power plants providing generation in last year’s auction (2025-2026) increased to nearly $270 per megawatt-day, compared to about $29 per MW-day from the year (2024-2025) before that.

The cap for this latest capacity auction is being set at $329.17/MW-day, and it is expected that electricity prices will climb next year as a result.

Electricity demand in New Jersey is set to rise, driven by increasingly extreme weather, the growing energy needs of AI data centers and population growth. Understanding how decisions are made at PJM and the interests of the stakeholders involved is a critical first step toward reforms that can help lower electricity costs for New Jersey residents.

New Jerseyans can no longer afford for us to wait.