Governor Murphy recently signed two bills meant to increase accountability and transparency in decision making by the regional grid operator PJM. Given the overwhelming lack of transparency in New Jersey’s energy policy, especially related to the state’s Energy Master Plan (EMP), we must ask, who holds our legislators and regulators accountable? AENJ has been asking for answers and transparency from the Board of Public Utilities (BPU) since the 2020 Energy Master Plan was released without a price tag, and all we have received are hollow answers and severely redacted documents. In fact, the BPU has gone more than 2,200 days without releasing the cost of the revised EMP.
This new legislation seeks to ensure that PJM is serving ratepayers by utilizing a pricing model that obtains adequate energy resources at the lowest possible cost at PJM’s annual capacity market auction. But it also directs the BPU to continue advocating with other states for reforms at PJM that will increase energy supply, protect ratepayers, and prioritize clean energy generation. That’s hard to do, given that natural gas, which has precipitated a decade and more of affordable energy and reduced emissions (and which accounts for 49 percent of New Jersey’s total electricity generation) is frowned upon in the EMP.
New Jersey isn’t the only state powered by affordable natural gas. According to PJM’s Generation Fuel Mix chart, natural gas also accounts for 43 percent of all PJM generation, thanks to the abundance of the Marcellus shale, and the entire region has seen natural gas replace coal and lower energy costs and emissions
If New Jersey is truly committed to incentivizing the development of new generation mixes in-state to meet growing electricity demand then natural gas must be part of the plan and included in the EMP.
There’s also no mention in the legislation of New Jersey’s halted plans to convert decommissioned coal plants to natural gas to maintain baseload generation. That is because the state looked to replace them with wind farms. Combined with the failure to replace 620 megawatts of generation from the Oyster Creek Nuclear Generation Station, the loss of these in-state generators made the state more reliant on imported generation and market-driven price spikes.
It’s absurd for BPU President Christine Guhl-Sadovy to call out PJM for transparency while the BPU itself has failed to be transparent and release the cost of the revised EMP and provide details on just how New Jersey plans to continue to meet the electricity demands of New Jersey businesses and residents. For the public to understand how decisions made at PJM may affect electricity reliability, affordability and sustainability, the BPU and elected officials must do the same.
Ron Morano is the Executive Director of Affordable Energy New Jersey.
