President, New Jersey Board of Public Utilities
Ben Hertz‑Shargel is the new President of the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities, appointed to lead the state’s regulatory agency overseeing electricity, natural gas, water, telecommunications, and clean‑energy programs. His career has centered on distributed energy resources, demand‑side management, electrification, and grid‑edge analytics – experience that shapes his approach to modernizing New Jersey’s grid as load grows and technology evolves. While his background is rooted in the demand side rather than traditional generation development, he brings deep expertise in how customer‑sited resources, electrification trends, and large loads interact with utility operations and long‑term planning.
Before joining the Board, Hertz‑Shargel served as Global Head of Grid Edge and later Global Head of Grid Transformation & Large Loads at Wood Mackenzie, where he led research on distributed flexibility, utility digitalization, and the rising electricity demand associated with data centers, transportation electrification, and building decarbonization. His work provided utilities, regulators, and policymakers with forward‑looking analysis on load growth, DER integration, and grid modernization.
Earlier in his career, he held senior roles at EnergyHub, including Vice President of Advanced Grid Services & Analytics, where he oversaw forecasting, optimization, and control strategies for large fleets of behind‑the‑meter devices such as batteries, thermostats, and distributed solar. He also served as Head of Data Science & Demand Management at Rhythm, a retail electricity provider, managing load forecasting and meter‑data analytics. His professional path began in quantitative finance at Credit Suisse, where he developed statistical models and risk‑analysis tools.
Hertz‑Shargel has advised organizations including the Atlantic Council’s Global Energy Center, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation’s Energy & Environment Program, and the Pew Charitable Trusts’ Distributed Energy Resources Policy Initiative. Across these roles, he has contributed to national discussions on electrification, DER policy, and long‑term grid planning.
As NJBPU President, Hertz‑Shargel is responsible for regulatory oversight of utility operations, resource planning, offshore wind solicitations, solar and storage programs, and New Jersey’s interaction with PJM’s wholesale markets. He joins at a time when the state is facing an energy affordability crisis and increasing questions about energy supply and resilience.
