Maddy Urbish, a senior advisor to Gov. Mikie Sherill and a well-known thought leader
on energy issues, said the state needs to change the existing utility business model with
a simple goal: Changing business as usual in the state.
Urbish, offering one of the keynote addresses last week at a New Jersey Energy Policy
Coalition event, laid out an early blueprint of Sherrill’s goals.
“While we remain laser focused on relieving the pressure on electricity costs for New
Jerseyans now, we are also fully aware that we must prioritize the critical infrastructure
investments needed to deploy more generation and supply and ensure ongoing
reliability,” she said. “It is not an easy balance.
“From deploying new solar and battery storage that is ready to be installed now, to
upgrading natural gas facilities, to investing in the infrastructure needed to respond to
demand on our grid, like virtual power plants and energy efficiency.”
Nuclear is very much on the table, too, she said.
While most of the focus on energy costs has been around consumer bills, Urbish
acknowledged its impact on the business community, too.
“Businesses are struggling to keep up with rising energy costs,” she said. “Yet even as
we see rising prices, we haven’t seen nearly enough new generation come online, A
market that does not produce results from the signals it sends, is a market that’s not
really working.”
Fixing this is a tall task. And one that Urbish acknowledged required outside help.
“We all know that we can get everything right here in New Jersey, but if we don’t push for significant improvements at PJM, we will continue to pay the cost of a multi-state grid that has failed to produce enough new generation to meet growing demand,” she said.
The cost of energy has been a huge issue in the state since last summer, when rates
spike dramatically.
Placing blame — on PJM, the multi-state regional transmission organization that
coordinates the movement of wholesale electricity across 13 states and Washington,
D.C., and the utilities — has been constant ever since.
Even if it’s not necessarily fair. The extent of the issue is deep.
Sherrill, who made energy affordability a kay campaign issue and the basis of her first
two executive orders — both of which were signed during her inaugural address — is
working to find solutions, Urbish told an overflow crowd at Forsgate Country Club in
Monroe.
“Like many challenges, this one is endlessly complex and difficult to address,” she said.
“I think it’s clear that this governor does not shy away from hard things, and we are not
going to kick the can down the road any longer.
“Our team is really hard at work, sorting through the nearly endless layers of utility
filings to really get at the heart of these issues and ensure that we’re able to functionally freeze electricity rates in the short term, while setting out a path for the reforms needed to address this challenge in the medium and long run.”
Urbish said the goal is to establish a new normal, where affordability is prioritized
alongside the liability and the utility industry has greater certainty in the state’s
regulatory processes and in the investments that they make.
“If we do this right, we will establish a new normal whereby affordability is prioritized
alongside the liability … where our utility industry has greater certainty in the state’s
regulatory processes and in the investments that they make … where we incentivize the
types of investments that bring more generation online, expand energy efficiency and
create structures that encourage not just capital spending for the sake of our elite, but
that really encourage strategic investments in making our grid perform better for families
and businesses,” she said.
