Sponsored by:
Assemblyman DAVID BAILEY, JR.
District 3 (Cumberland, Gloucester and Salem)
Assemblywoman ANDREA KATZ
District 8 (Atlantic and Burlington)
Assemblyman WAYNE P. DEANGELO
District 14 (Mercer and Middlesex)
Co-Sponsored by:
Assemblymen Kearney, Bhalla, Assemblywoman Swain and Assemblyman Tully
SYNOPSIS
Establishes certain protections against demand by large-load addition customers in State.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As reported by the Assembly Telecommunications and Utilities Committee on June 4, 2026, with amendments.
An Act establishing certain protections against demand by large-load addition customers in the State and supplementing Title 48 of the Revised Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. As used in P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill):
“Board” means the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities or a successor agency.
“Electric public utility” means the same as that term is defined in section 3 of P.L.1999, c.23 (C.48:3-51).
“Large-load addition customer” means 1an1 individual 1[additions] addition1 of load at or above 50 MW 1[at a single point of interconnection] or an alternative MW threshold set by the board pursuant to section 5 of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill)1.
“Load-serving entity” means an entity, or the duly-designated agent of the entity, including a load aggregator or power marketer, that serves end-users within the State and is authorized to sell electric energy to end-users located within the State. 1“Load-serving entity” includes a large-load addition customer serving as the large-load addition customer’s own load-serving entity.1
“PJM Interconnection, L.L.C.” or “PJM” means the same as that term is defined in section 3 of P.L.1999, c.23 (C.48:3-51).
“Reliability 1[backstop]1 procurement” means a PJM-approved mechanism to procure long-term 1[contracts] commitments1 from new capacity resources, however constituted, 1that are1 deemed necessary to ensure electric system reliability 1[during periods when market-based outcomes are insufficient to meet forecasted needs]1.
2. When issued a curtailment obligation or directive from PJM due to a load-serving entity’s 1or an electric public utility’s1 provision of service to a large-load addition customer, the load-serving entity 1or electric public utility1 shall impose PJM’s curtailment obligation or directive solely on the load-serving entity’s 1or electric public utility’s1 large-load addition customers 1, as appropriate1. However, nothing in this section shall be construed to prevent a load-serving entity 1or an electric public utility1 from taking necessary action to maintain system reliability and adopting voluntary load curtailment programs.
3. Any financial or other obligation associated with 1[the] a1 reliability 1[backstop]1 procurement, or other comparable assignment of long-term capacity obligations, that is assigned to a load-serving entity 1or an electric public utility1 shall be passed through 1or allocated1 to large-load addition customers under substantially-similar terms as PJM assigns the financial or other obligations to the load-serving entity 1or electric public utility1.
4. In order to receive electric public utility service from an electric public utility in the State, a large-load addition customer shall: provide appropriate financial security 1,1 in a manner approved by the board, to 1[either]1 the load serving entity 1[or] , PJM,1 the electric public utility, 1or other entity,1 as appropriate, to ensure that costs associated with 1a1 reliability 1[backstop]1 procurement are not passed through to other New Jersey customers, 1even1 if the large-load addition customer’s demand on the electrical grid 1[necessitates reliability backstop procurement through PJM] does not fully materialize over the term of the reliability procurement commitment1 ; and submit detailed information to PJM, including, but not limited to, expected load usage, peak load, utilization, dependency on other proposed projects, and any other information requested by PJM.
5. The board shall, in accordance with the “Administrative Procedure Act,” P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.), adopt rules and regulations as necessary to implement the provisions of 1[this act] P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill)1, including 1rules and regulations determining an alternative MW threshold for large-load addition customers and1 the form of the appropriate financial security pursuant to section 4 of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill).
6. This act shall take effect immediately.