News Stories

On July 17, 2026 the New Jersey BPU published an expert study examining New Jersey’s electric utility model, marking an important milestone in the Board’s effort to examine how the State’s regulatory framework can best deliver affordable, reliable, and resilient electric utility service.

The report was commissioned following Governor Sherrill’s Executive Order No. 1, which directed the Board to study ways to modernize regulations to better align utility incentives with customer outcomes. It reflects extensive stakeholder engagement and draws on national best practices to present options for regulatory reforms.

Key Points for Policymakers

• Electricity bills in New Jersey have risen faster than most household essentials, which makes affordability the central concern of this study.
• Most of a typical bill (supply and transmission) is set in federal and regional markets with limited ability at the state level to influence those costs. Utility business-model reform that is regulated at the state level can act mainly on the distribution and programmatic portion of the bill, roughly a quarter of the bill, though some reforms may indirectly lower exposure to supply and transmission costs.
• The jurisdictional review and evidence show that no single reform or modernization option is a silver bullet. The most reliable near-term gains could come from “cost-discipline” measures available under existing state authority.
• More ambitious financing, incentive, and performance-based reforms could follow as data, baselines, and customer protections mature.

The Utility Business Model study released this week explores potential reforms to move New Jersey toward a model that further rewards:

• Reliability and resilience
• Affordability
• Faster interconnection
• Energy efficiency and peak-demand reductions
• More effective use of existing grid capacity
• Integration of distributed and clean energy resources, and
• Measurable service and performance improvements