Bill > S731

This bill mandates that electric public utilities in New Jersey establish specific rules for "large data center customers" to prevent other customers, referred to as "non-large load customers," from bearing increased costs associated with serving these large energy consumers. The Board of Public Utilities (Board) will define what constitutes a "large data center" and a "large data center customer," with a maximum threshold of 50 megawatts of energy demand. These rules aim to ensure that large data centers cover all costs they incur, including infrastructure investments, and incentivize them to improve energy efficiency, use clean energy sources like new clean generation or energy storage, and participate in demand reduction programs. The bill also requires large data center customers to provide financial guarantees for their electricity supply, encourages them to manage their energy consumption through "demand flexibility" (adjusting their electricity use based on grid needs), and prioritizes their curtailment during emergencies before residential customers. Furthermore, it addresses how "co-located generation" (on-site power generation for a data center) is tariffed and ensures that costs for grid upgrades or capacity needs driven by these large customers are allocated to them, not other ratepayers. Existing large data centers approved before the bill's enactment will have some exemptions from certain cost allocation and financial guarantee requirements but will still be subject to other provisions.