New Jersey’s high energy costs emerge as a factor in tightening governor’s race

Crushing electric bills are angering New Jersey voters, and Republicans hope that pinning the blame on Democrats will help elect the state’s first Republican governor in 12 years.

Republican Jack Ciattarelli and Democrat Mikie Sherrill are running neck and neck in some of the latest polls in New Jersey’s race for governor.

The contest has narrowed as utility bills have increased by 22% or more in the past several months, putting energy policy at the center of one of the nation’s closest races this year.

Voters listed affordability as the most important issue facing New Jersey in a recent Rutgers poll. As they contend with the state’s high taxes and higher housing costs, voters have added soaring utility bills to their list of complaints.

“It’s no surprise that these kitchen table issues have once again taken center stage in the governor’s race as New Jerseyans feel the fiscal pinch now more than ever between the national and state economy, plus rising utility rates,” poll director Ashley Koning said.

Mr. Ciattarelli, a former state representative, has made the state’s high energy costs a central part of his campaign platform and pins the blame for the increase squarely on the shoulders of Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat. Since his election in 2017, Mr. Murphy has closed fossil fuel and nuclear power plants in an effort to move New Jersey to net-zero emissions by 2035.

Mr. Murphy’s ambitious plan has fallen short. He has cut nuclear, gas and coal sources, and the state has been unable to bring planned offshore wind onto the grid or enough solar to make up the difference. His policies have left New Jersey, once energy-independent, with an energy deficit. This has forced the state to import electricity from a more expensive regional grid.

“We were an electricity exporter when Phil Murphy took office. Today, we have to import it, and we’re paying through the nose,” Mr. Ciattarelli said during an Oct. 30 town hall event on Fox News.

Republicans are hoping voters, having soured on Mr. Murphy’s leadership, are skeptical of replacing him with another Democrat.

“We are stuck with big taxes on our fuel, overpriced electric, large tolls, and poor roadways, just to name a few,” a Bergen County resident lamented on social media last week. “Sherrill will just continue the devastation of our state.”

Ms. Sherrill, who represents the state’s 11th Congressional District in the House, also has made energy a top priority. She has outlined the strategy she would implement to bring down costs, which she said are “out of control” in New Jersey.

Although she acknowledges a power shortage in the state, Ms. Sherrill would double down on renewable energy and “massively build out cheaper and cleaner power generation.”

She also promises to declare a state of emergency on utility costs and “freeze” utility rates.

Ms. Sherrill attacked the Trump administration’s cuts to renewable subsidies, which she said will drive up New Jersey electricity prices further “by canceling cheap and clean generation and energy efficiency programs.”

She called solar power “the fastest energy source to build right now” but said permitting and red tape have slowed implementation and interconnection to the grid, “preventing us from hitting our goals … increasing utility bills and making our air dirtier.”

Mr. Ciattarelli said he would reopen the power plants shuttered by Democrats and would expand a nuclear power facility in South Jersey. He said he would immediately withdraw the state from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a multistate cap-and-trade system that has contributed to higher energy prices. Pulling out of the RGGI, he said, would save ratepayers up to $500 million annually.

Mr. Ciattarelli supports the expansion of solar energy and said he would fast-track the installation of solar panels on warehouse rooftops statewide.

Forget offshore wind. He is siding with President Trump and a coalition of fishermen, business leaders and environmentalists who want to stop the construction of offshore wind turbines.

“Gov. Murphy once said offshore wind is going to happen, whether folks like it or not. That was arrogant then, and it’s wrong now,” Mr. Ciattarelli said. “What President Trump started, I, as governor, will finish. There will be no wind farms off our Jersey Shore.”

Mr. Murphy invested heavily in developing an offshore wind farm that was scheduled to begin delivering electricity by 2027. However, the project was hobbled for years by supply chain congestion, global inflation, and a series of problems that led to companies withdrawing from the project.

The project stalled earlier this year because of uncertainty in the wind market after Mr. Trump paused federal permits and leases for wind farms.

Wind opponents say growing opposition to a massive wind farm off New Jersey’s coast is helping Mr. Ciattarelli’s campaign.

“We believe offshore wind will play a major role in New Jersey’s gubernatorial race. Families across the state are struggling with soaring electricity bills, and affordability has emerged as the top issue for working households,” said Robin Schaffer, a leader of the New Jersey coalition Protect Our Coast NJ, which opposes offshore wind. “Jack Ciattarelli has successfully connected Gov. Murphy’s aggressive push for offshore wind — combined with the closure of six power plants — to rising energy costs. His campaign has also highlighted Mikie Sherrill’s support for offshore wind and other costly renewable mandates.”

The New Jersey wind project was planned to have a capacity of 1 million homes, but it likely would have raised prices further because ratepayers would have had to foot the bill for the project and the higher cost of delivery.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright labeled offshore wind “the most expensive energy on the planet.”

An Emerson College poll released Sept. 25 found that Democratic voters in New Jersey blamed utility companies for high electricity bills by 36%, while Republicans blamed Mr. Murphy at 36%. Independents were split between blaming the governor (27%) and utility companies (23%) for the hikes.

The Regional Planning Association, a nonpartisan civic planning group, attributed New Jersey’s higher electricity prices to several factors. Among them were the state’s reduced energy supply, increased demand for energy and fluctuations in natural gas prices. It warned that data centers would exacerbate the problem. They account for 4% of the energy load today in the service area of the regional grid operator PJM Interconnection and are estimated to make up 12% of demand by 2030.