Sherrill campaign pledges to stop rising electric bills in New Jersey

Energy prices are soaring in New Jersey, and Mikie Sherrill, the Democratic candidate for governor in 2025, has a plan to bring families some relief. 

Electric bills have surged for New Jerseyans this summer, rising by about 20% on June 1, according to the nonprofit research group Regional Plan Association.

The group attributes much of the price increases to declines in supply even as demand has continued to increase in the territory of PJM Interconnection, which supplies power to the entirety of New Jersey as well as to all or part of 12 other states plus the District of Columbia.

“Our utility bills have gone up by 20% this summer. New Jerseyans are hurting, and I hear it from families all across the state,” Sherrill said in a press conference Aug. 21 outside the home of Herb and Mary Michitsch in Kenilworth.

Sherrill said she’s prepared to step in. “On day one, I’m going to declare a state of emergency on utility costs,” she said, adding that she’ll freeze utility rates for a year.

Herb Michitsch, who said he and Mary have been married for 57 years and have lived in their home for 53 of those, told reporters at Sherrill’s press conference that their electricity bills have increased dramatically.

“I think utilities are really putting a dent in our budget,” Herb Michitsch said. “When we first moved in, I believe, our electric bill was under $100 a month. Now it’s creeping up close to $400 a month. That’s a big increase. I think it’s uncontrollable, and something really has to be done.”

Basking Ridge mother Theresa Luoni is no stranger to the struggles that rising electricity bills can bring. She told the New Jersey Independent that her electric bill went up by more than $200 in July, even despite her family making a point to avoid using air conditioning unless absolutely necessary.

“Because we were aware of the price increases, we actually have a rule that no air conditioners are allowed on unless it’s over 90 degrees,” she said. “I know I’m in a family that lives at the poverty line, but I don’t see how, without a solution to stop some of the rising costs in New Jersey, that it’s not going to shove out people from the state.”

She said utility rates are an added stressor at a time when she already feels squeezed by increasing consumer prices and cuts to programs her two disabled children rely on.

“How are people supposed to afford to live here? Especially people that are already working as much as they can,” she wondered.

She said Sherrill’s plan is a great start, although she hopes for more permanent solutions.

“A family making — and I don’t make this much — but a family making $75,000, a family of four, shouldn’t be struggling to pay bills,” she said. “The price of everything is rising. There’s less jobs available. Because how can you afford to hire anyone? So freezing the rates is a great place to start, but they need to come up with some permanent solutions.”

During her press conference, Sherrill said her rate freeze proposal is just the start.

“I’ll massively expand cheaper, cleaner power generation and building an energy arsenal in our state,” she said. “We’re going to cut through red tape and eliminate permitting delays to get that done right now.”

Sherrill said that under her leadership, New Jersey would break new ground on solar and battery storage projects, expand capacity at existing nuclear facilities, make natural gas plants cleaner and more efficient, and demand more transparency from utility companies in the state. She also said she would direct her attorney general to sue PJM and President Donald Trump “to force them to end their mismanagement and get new power added to the grid.”

“My plan is going to deliver immediate relief to New Jersey families by streamlining, modernizing and expanding our energy arsenal, will not only lower energy bills in the immediate future but also create a long-range plan and strategy for driving down costs, increasing production and decreasing carbon emissions across the state, because more power generation means lower bills,” she said.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy signed two bills in August intended to address soaring energy costs in the state. Senate Joint Resolution 154 mandates that the state Board of Public Utilities investigate PJM Interconnection’s pricing model, while Assembly Bill 453 instructs utility companies to disclose votes taken at meetings of PJM and its affiliates and whether each vote “furthers the State’s goals of prioritizing the affordability, reliability and sustainability of electricity production, consumption and conservation.”

The first bill requires the Board of Public Utilities to deliver its report on PJM’s pricing model to the governor and New Jersey Legislature within one year.

“These bills complement our long-term plan of action to hold PJM responsible for hardworking New Jerseyans’ skyrocketing electricity bills and a lack of new energy generation,” Murphy said in a statement. “We are committed to creating a system that is fairer and more transparent for customers and the states that represent them – a necessary change from the opaque practices that have, for too long, defined PJM.”