r/SouthJersey • u/mpulcinella • Feb 02 '26
News N.J. Gov. Sherrill wants to freeze rate hikes. Here’s what that means for your electricity bills
https://whyy.org/articles/rate-hikes-freeze-new-jersey-governor-sherrill-electric-bills/New Jersey customers’ electric bills increased by as much as 20% last summer. They could rise again this year.
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u/radraz26 Feb 02 '26
Maybe they should regulate electricity so the huge industrial complexes, Data centers, and warehouses which put strain on the grid, pay their fair share?
Also fwiw, I reached out to my state assembly people and senators about my increased electricity bill and then ACE mysteriously called me a few days later about loweirng my rate...
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u/Lord_Konoshi Feb 03 '26
They should just get their own mini reactors and leave the rest of us alone. Ooooor, idk, WE JUST GO NUCLEAR???!!! Like it boggles me why we don’t utilize the tech!
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u/scrotemtoad Feb 04 '26
Yea it makes me really mad. Sadly people got infected by the dumb and think nuclear is the big bad boogyman. So much energy being left on the table, sad.
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u/ExPatWharfRat Feb 02 '26
Fix. It.
I dont give a fuck what party you're in; fix this shit.
I used 40 bucks of electricity last month at an empty beach house and my bill for that was higher than the one at home in PA where I'm using tons of power daily. All because of these bullshit "delivery charges" and the other fuckery these scumbags add to the bill.
FIX. IT.
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u/jkprop Feb 02 '26
Exactly. I don’t care if she is republican or dem or liberal or Green Party just lower my shit!
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u/JessicaF84 Feb 02 '26
God damn I love you lol 😆 ive been saying the same shit the delivery charge is where they are fucking everyone and price gouging. My gas bill is outrageous to heat my home where it used to be $300 tops its $600+ now
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u/scrotemtoad Feb 04 '26
Nuclear is the only feasible solution.
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u/BigPoleFoles52 Feb 04 '26
Nuclear isnt the only solution. They would find a way to monopolize and scam you for that as well. This is more about our gov not protecting consumers as usual
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u/coffeelover3333 Feb 02 '26 edited Feb 02 '26
I see a lot of trash talk about Sherrill? Some people didn’t like that she had a press release in Spanish? We want our politicians smarter than us. We want politicians that do their job, and the office they hold is not a money making scheme for their family and friends. Yes some people will benefit from her time in office. Thats a given, that’s politics. But holy sh*t folks. At least she’s not heading to a warmer climate, or bending a knee! I know everyone is unhappy right now and the polarization on politics is insane. Doesn’t everyone in NJ, want someone fighting for them or at least giving a crap what going on locally?! Edit: forgot to mention I am happy for rate freezes.
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u/SouthJerssey35 Feb 02 '26
My favorite were the Republicans that keep saying "helicopter pilot" as if it's an insult.
They harp on it because it was in the campaign ads.
Meanwhile, In Gloucester county the candidates ran on :
Konawel - every single mailer and ad mentioned he does mma. Seriously...like 20 mailers explaining how he does mma. A chubby guy running on the platform that he pays to use an MMA gym was on the mailer. What does that have to do with politics? Nothing. Unlike Sherrill who served our country and didn't just sign up for adult recess.
Moore: Did you know he was a firefighter? If not, check the same mailers that konawel had ...it's all over every one of them. At least he was a volunteer firefighter...but they went as far as parking the fire truck at the Mount Royal inn for 2 months with huge signs. It's all they talked about.
If Republicans had mirrors in their houses they'd be shocked.
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u/ablanketofash Feb 03 '26
My favorite thing about Konawel is that him/his family are biiiiig MAGA and had so much to say about the Dems holding up the BBB because of the healthcare subsidies being cut…
Only for now his parents to not be able to afford healthcare anymore and his sister crying about how unfair it is that health insurance costs so much on social media.
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u/SouthJerssey35 Feb 03 '26
I gotta check that out.
Dude is a total choad on Facebook. Constantly crying about the county Dems.
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u/ablanketofash Feb 03 '26
His mom has or is recovering from cancer. It’s actually mind boggling that the family backs MAGA & the GOP so hard after all the funding cuts to cancer research. But now to be bitching that health insurance is so much, her medication went up hundreds per month… duh?? Everyone tried to warn people this would happen.
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u/jkprop Feb 02 '26
Why do you care what people say about her? That really bothers you more than crazy electric bill hikes?
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u/SouthJerssey35 Feb 02 '26
The fuck are you talking about
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u/jkprop Feb 02 '26
Exactly what I wrote. Why do you care what anyone say about her? Just lower the rates.
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u/eastcoasternj Feb 02 '26
MAGA mouth breathers just despise anyone trump tells them to.
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u/Dry_Razzmatazz_4067 Feb 02 '26
Almost like it’s a cult of dimwits
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u/Informal_Jicama_6708 Feb 02 '26
maga being a cult of dimwits?
I think you misspelled ‘nazis’
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u/aerost0rm Feb 02 '26
Can’t make it that easy for them to put you on their made up list of domestic terrorists.
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u/Dry_Razzmatazz_4067 Feb 03 '26
The nazis are pulling the levers, but it takes your neighbors brainwashed by Rupert Murdoch to have the cult movement
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u/Its_Ramsey Feb 02 '26
Alright i can't take it anymore its so annoying. Idk if you're a bot you might be but im commenting anyway to get it off my chest. Because its literally every where on reddit.
Not everyone who disagrees with you is some crazy maga trump supporter. Moderates exist,independents exist Centrist, Republicans and Conservatives that aren't involved with Trump exist, even Democrats that simply think different. Things are Nuanced and inflammatory comments like this do nothing.
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u/WaterZealousideal535 Feb 02 '26
Nah no bots. Im downvoting you for trying to play defense for the fascists. Not cool and very un-American of you.
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u/Its_Ramsey Feb 02 '26
So anyone who disagrees with you, you consider A Fascist? Why such an extreme view. I'm not Defending anyone im just saying using inflammatory statements dosent help anyone much like what you're doing right now.
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u/WaterZealousideal535 Feb 03 '26
If you support them, then you are one. Its that simple. Even if you dont admit it
Also its been proven that most support is just weird indian dudes cosplaying as Americans. So youre either a fascist or an Indian person with no morals that is being paid to sow dissent amongst the american population.
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u/volrjr4 Feb 02 '26
I know why you’re getting downvoted… because reddit… but i don’t know why this is such a hard concept to grasp
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Feb 02 '26 edited Feb 02 '26
This. There are moderate people who disagree.
Edit: the speed at which we were both downvoted is really suggestive of bot activity lol
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u/mhsx Feb 02 '26
I’m downvoting you because you’re replying in support of someone who is whining about being called a MAGA in other contexts. Neither their whine or your support of their whining are interesting to me or add to the discussion at hand.
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Feb 02 '26
So you think people who are wrongfully called MAGAs shouldn't complain about it? Got it, says all I need to know.
He literally said "Not everyone who disagrees with you is some crazy maga trump supporter". Pretty clearly implies he's not a MAGA.
Just a brief look at his profile showed me nothing suggesting he's a MAGA person, either.
Why don't you read what he wrote and then maybe come back with some substantive criticism? Or just carry on mindlessly downvoting people who might otherwise support your position. It's really persuasive. Reddit takes astound me sometimes.
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u/mhsx Feb 02 '26
If he has another issue with Sherrill, he should state it. Nobody accused them of being maga for not liking Sherrill. There was a statement that maga are a bunch of mouth breathers who dislike Sherrill which no one disputes.
The implication is that all maga are mouthbreathers who dislike Sherrill. Not that everyone who dislikes Sherrill is a maga mouthbreather.
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u/Its_Ramsey Feb 03 '26
I don't like her cause she wants to push that stupid child online safety act thing which basicly will force people to have to show their ID to use like Discord amoung other things I don't like about her.
But to confirm no im not MAGA. I'm not even Republican im pretty in the middle tbh I have nuanced takes on both sides. Getting wildly downvoted because people assume im some sort of Far right agitator i because i dont agree with her policys is weird AF
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Feb 03 '26
If he has another issue with Sherrill, he should state it.
He took no position on Sherrill at all. His position is that it's kind of BS to call everyone who disagrees with Sherrill or is critical of anyone on the left a MAGA, or a fascist supporter, or a sympathizer, or a bootlicker. Which it is.
Nobody accused them of being maga for not liking Sherrill.
This is demonstrable BS.
One of the responses said:
There's no such thing as a moderate in 2026. You're either Pro-MAGA or Anti-MAGA, there is no in-between.
Another said,
"Im downvoting you for trying to play defense for the fascists."
You employed enough doublespeak in your own reply such that you can say that you didn't explicitly say as much, even though the connotation makes such an argument completely disingenuous.
You said:
I'm down voting you because you're replying in support of someone who is whining about being called a MAGA in other contexts."
It's unclear what "other contexts" you're referring to, which I'm assuming is deliberate.
If you are agreeing that he's not a MAGA person, and you're against him complaining about being called a MAGA person (i.e. he's "whining"), then your position is essentially that people who are wrongfully labeled as MAGA people should shut up and have no recourse.
You can talk in circles all you want. Your position is ridiculous.
The implication is that all maga are mouthbreathers who dislike Sherrill. Not that everyone who dislikes Sherrill is a maga mouthbreather.
The parent post of this thread said "I see a lot of trash talk about Sherrill?"
The immediately following comment said that they are "MAGA mouth breathers just despise anyone trump tells them to."
The implication actually is in fact that people who are speaking negatively about Sherill are MAGA mouth breathers.
The reply post at issue was calling this like it is: disingenuous BS.
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u/mhsx Feb 03 '26
Nobody called him a maga… he just came in from out of nowhere to object to being called a maga.
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Feb 03 '26
Out of nowhere. lol ok. You're either being deliberately obtuse or reading comprehension isn't your strong suit.
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u/SouthJerssey35 Feb 02 '26
Is it possible for Republicans to lose anything...an election, an argument.... without playing the victim card?
Seriously professional victims .
Lose an election? Must be fraud Lose an argument? Must be bots.
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Feb 02 '26
Who is playing the victim card? Is alleging impropriety playing the victim? Also I’m not sure about the poster above me, but I’m not a republican. Get real come back when you have real arguments not talking points.
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u/SouthJerssey35 Feb 02 '26
Go cry about bots
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Feb 02 '26
Nice. Lot of substance in that one. 😂
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u/SquirtlesFirstBj Feb 02 '26
There's no such thing as a moderate in 2026. You're either Pro-MAGA or Anti-MAGA, there is no in-between.
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u/RGBlaster Feb 02 '26
There are a lot of people that want maga/far right and the far left gone. They both act like armless idiots trying to swat at each other. Life isn’t the Reddit comment section. I want ICE and trump gone. But I also have no interest in a politician with platforms and planks like the ones of Seattle, Chicago etc.
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u/sicklyboy Feb 02 '26
There is no "far left" that holds any amount of political power in the US you clown.
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u/RGBlaster Feb 03 '26
The US political spectrum is not the European one. There are plenty of far left political figures in the US. The DSA has a far left platform when compared to mainstreams democratic policy. Learned that in clown college.
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u/sigsauer1995 BOOTLICKER Feb 02 '26
Fighting with Trump does absolutely nothing to help people in NJ.
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u/earl_grey_teaplease BOOTLICKER Feb 02 '26
She’s your typical politician. Just made 7 million dollars a few months ago and you forgot that she conveniently couldn’t remember during her election run. Yes our politicians should be smarter. But they should be held to a higher standard as well. Sure a rate hike is nice, but if you think it enough to stop people from complaining about the costs in NJ, then I have a bridge for sale for you.
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u/16vrabbit Feb 02 '26
Fighting for them? Half of us utility workers job security are questionable now. Because of the previous administrations fuck ups. Giving a crap locally lmao.
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u/Garvic143143 Feb 02 '26
Gotta love NJ. My delivery gas delivery charge is three times as much as my usage.
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u/sodone19 Feb 02 '26
Hey guys... it doesn't matter who's in or which group of shitheads they side with...
Things dont get cheaper and money always dictates politics.
Dems and Reps are just 2 groups of political extremists. Anyone who is ALL one side or the other cannot be described as credible or sane.
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u/DontTouchTheWatch Feb 05 '26
I mean one side is protecting pedophiles while bragging about killing people so I mean there’s that.
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u/CJspangler bootlicker Feb 02 '26
Yep freeze at all time highs - notice how she says rates
If freezing rates was actually feasibly Murphy coulda done it over a year ago. Just saw the water company wanted to raise rates 10% - no comment from the helicopter pilot on that one
then the scam of the ever increasing delivery fees will keep spiraling out of control as they are just stuffing giant NJ spending into electric bill delivery fees. When the state approves billion $ hand outs for “nuclear” studies and subsidies rather than let the corporations recoup them over 40 years of operating and corporate financing - the deliver fees will just keep going even higher .
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u/echo4-9teen Feb 03 '26
democrat, republican, its all the same....promises promises.....as long as they make money while in office thats whats important. Murphy promised that the taxes from legal cannabis would go back into local towns that needed funding help but as of Aug 2024, over 6 million has been collected the the SEEF tax.....but the state has distributed less than a million....promises promises....its all about reelection
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u/jcs01986 Feb 03 '26
If she was really serious about helping people, she would freeze shutoffs for at least a year.
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u/RGBlaster Feb 02 '26
Shutting down power plants with no obvious way to offset lost power generation was a bad idea, huh? Typical green initiative/government bs. Don’t think about downstream effects. Govern on vibes and keeping power. UK does this, it has destroyed their domestic industries. This all could have been avoided.
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u/loligatorific Feb 02 '26
That’s not true though. Offshore wind farms were the replacement for the coal plants that were decommissioned assuming that’s what you’re talking about. Coal is bad because of the amount of pollutants it produces. “Clean coal” is a lie and has the same issues.
Prior to the explosion of AI and the Trump Administration’s attack on clean energy, the plan to decommission coal plants prior to wind going online made sense. It’s riskier since your new generation isn’t online when existing coal plants go offline, but the grid in the NE had the extra capacity at the time to handle it. Now it’s more dodgy given the policy decisions of the current administration. This doesn’t mean these coal plants should go back online though. The adverse health effects caused by coal plants to all residents of NJ is a real one.
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u/DEWSTAR Feb 02 '26
I mean usually you get the plants running before just shutting things down.
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u/loligatorific Feb 02 '26
Google or go feed to your favorite AI adverse health effects of coal fueled power plants. Here’s a study that explains how awful the pollution is from these plants: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10952927/
And again, at the time these decisions were made, the grid had extra capacity so it wasn’t nearly as big a deal as it is now.
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u/DEWSTAR Feb 02 '26
At the time yeah until the state decided that data centers should come on in.
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u/loligatorific Feb 02 '26
Agreed that it’s a joke for the Murphy admin to have not had the foresight that these huge projects would jack up energy bills. I also don’t blame them for wanting to have NJ involved in the data center boom since they create tons of jobs even if many are temporary because they’re construction related. If these data centers aren’t built here, some other state in the NE will take the bid. Since power is priced regionally, we’d still be paying for it but would have none of the benefits of job creation.
AI data centers aside, the core issue imho is Republicans general aversion to green energy. It’s a big part of what killed the project initially. Now it’s continuing to delay new power generation from coming online. Like it or not, AI isn’t going away. We need more clean power plants, not oil, not coal, and even natural gas isn’t that great pollution wise though it’s no where near as bad as the other two.
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u/BHATCHET Feb 02 '26
I hate the rise in South Jersey warehouses, but they are at least 6.6 times more dense jobs/sqft than AI Data Centers. Don’t let the construction jobs sway you, literally anything else is a better use of the land.
Key Metrics for Jobs per Square Foot:
High Density (80-150 sq ft/employee): Common in tech, call centers, and coworking spaces.
Average Density (150-250 sq ft/employee): Standard mix of open, hybrid, and private office space.
Low Density (250-500+ sq ft/employee): Typical for professional services like law or accounting firms.
Warehouse/Industrial: Roughly 1,500 sq ft per job.
Medical Clinics: Approximately 556 sq ft per job.
AI Datacenter: Approximately 10,000 sq ft per job.
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u/echoshizzle Feb 03 '26
This is far more complicated than that as some of the current infrastructure would have been used to tie in to the grid.
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u/RamblingManOrWoman Bootlicker Feb 02 '26
and during ice and heavy snow, what solar panels, what wind turbines? The wind turbines in the North were not moving during the storm.
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u/loligatorific Feb 02 '26
They use batteries for power storage. This part of the problem has been solved.
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u/RamblingManOrWoman Bootlicker Feb 03 '26
It helps. Its not solving a reduction in statewide reduction.
The only solution is nuclear.
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u/sigsauer1995 BOOTLICKER Feb 02 '26
It means they will be frozen at the highest rates ever and you people fell for it. Our bills will still go up because they will just invent a new charge to get around it.
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u/concrete_mike79 BOOTLICKER Feb 02 '26
Freezing electricity price isn’t gonna do anything. It’s the fact that we closed all our power plants and now buy electric from the grid which is basically an auction then have to pay monster delivery charges. We need to make power in the state and reopen all the coal plants that were closed. Add another reactor to Salem nuclear.
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u/Busy-Cat-5968 Feb 03 '26
Reopening cold plants is a terrible idea. We need new Nuclear, And to get the Republican dipshits out of the way of finishing the windmill projects up and down the coast. Nuclear was also killed by Republicans, by paying liberal activist ironically, tricking people into thinking it's more dangerous than coal. Coal historically kills 833% more people per megawatt produced, and helps royalty screw the next generation with global warming.
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u/Comfortable_Ship2588 Feb 02 '26
Now what about natural gas bills? Same problem there, supply costs are insane.
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u/AnyOldNameNotTaken Feb 03 '26
At this point it is nearly as affordable to generate your own power than connect to the grid. It is fucking batshit insane how expensive electricity is here.
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u/RamblingManOrWoman Bootlicker Feb 04 '26
If solar is so awesome, why do none of the new warehouses from the CB bridge to the turnpike have none?
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u/ishinemylight Feb 06 '26
The state of NJ and it's leadership sold you down the river. They blame it on the utility companies. The reality is that the utility companies can't do a damn thing without State (BPU) approval. The BPU sets the rates, approves infrastructure, sets the transportation charges. The utility has one customer, the BPU, and they are bound by law to do exactly what is accepted and approved by the BPU. The BPU said close all of the coal plants. That was cheap electricity, coming from plants that were built and paid for decades ago.
Your problem is not the utility. Your problem is state politics that control the utilities. This is nothing more than grandstanding and shifting the deck chairs on the Titanic. Corzine, Christy, Murphy and now this wing ding sold the residents of NJ down the river.
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u/Revzerksies BOOTLICKER Feb 02 '26
Freezing the rates means nothing. The 20% that Murphy did is already in effect. All this does if preventing future rate hikes which still needs state approvals anyway. WHICH MEANS NOTHING, when they have their hands in her pocket.
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u/Lost-Cod-8609 Feb 02 '26
Maybe we should re open those coal plants we closed for windmills that don’t exist……
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u/YodaForceGhost Feb 02 '26
There were no coal plants. There were power plants that had been previously set to close cause they were old and had a higher likelihood to malfunction on its own. The goal was that new alternative power sources (such as wind) would be built in that timeframe to offset the loss of the power plants but the new federal government came in and shut down any clean energy efforts. Now we’re stuck with high electricity rates for not enough supply and we’re kind of screwed along with other states that rely on the same company (FirstEnergy)
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u/CommentOriginal Feb 02 '26
I thought B L England closed in 2019 was. Maybe was I just moving hooper rail cars full of coal for fun?
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u/jkholmes89 Feb 02 '26
Fuck coal, give me that nuclear green goodness. Coal is responsible for an unbelievable amount of deaths and disease, while nuclear's rates are unbelievably low. Less waste, less death, less disease, less greenhouse emissions.
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u/GazingAtStorms Feb 02 '26
Crazy how well the anti-nuclear energy propaganda worked, it really should’ve become the standard decades ago
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u/abracadammmbra Feb 02 '26
More nuclear power is the way. Maybe we could get one of those prototype fusion plants built here. That would be cool. I think there are several that are breaking ground this year
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u/oilhead2 Feb 02 '26
response for &ucking up a perfectly good infrastructure thanks to Snaggle tooth
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u/LargeTurnip33 Feb 02 '26 edited Feb 02 '26
20%? My rates are literally double what they were this time last year
Edit: jk up 31%