Scope
P.L.2026, c.32 (Assembly Bill 796 / Senate Bill 731), codified at C.48:7-6.2, requires the Board of Public Utilities, no later than 12 months after the section's effective date, to establish by order for every electric public utility standards for electric service to large data center customers, with each utility's qualifying threshold set at not more than 50 megawatts and with cost-allocation protections for other customers. The act itself does not set a tariff.
- Geographic scope
- New Jersey
- Jurisdiction
- State
- Authority type
- Legislature
- Issuing authority
- New Jersey Legislature
Dates
- Adopted
- 7 July 2026
- Effective
- 7 July 2026
- Scheduled expiration
- See completion condition
- Ended
- Not recorded as ended
- Completion condition
- The act states no expiration. The 12-month deadline for the Board's order, about 7 July 2027, is a compliance deadline, not an end date.
- Source document
- 7 July 2026
- Last checked
- 23 September 2026 (earlier than tracker date 5 October 2026; not an automatic status change)
Summary
New Jersey P.L.2026, c.32, approved and effective on 7 July 2026, directs the Board of Public Utilities to set, by order within 12 months, standards for electric service to large data center customers of every electric public utility. Each utility's large data center threshold may not exceed 50 megawatts, and the standards must protect other customers from subsidizing that service. The act does not itself set a tariff; tariffs will follow the Board's order and utility filings.
What this does not establish
- The chapter-law text carries reprint markup; the quoted section is the operative version.
- The act directs the Board to require financial guarantees that each large data center customer pay for at least 85 percent of the electricity supply it requests for 10 years (or as the Board's standards provide); the resulting tariff terms were not checked.
- No Board of Public Utilities order or docket implementing the act was found on 23 September 2026. The Department of Community Affairs' Local Finance Notice 2026-13 (25 August 2026) says the Board will work to implement the legislation over the coming months, including seeking stakeholder feedback as it develops the tariff.
Unresolved questions
- When the Board of Public Utilities will issue the required order.
Relationships
Supersession means a later instrument replaces the earlier legal effect. Repeal links identify the repeal instrument and the measure it ends. A later implementation or related letter is not treated as a replacement unless the record says so.
- No related action is recorded.
Sources
https://pub.njleg.gov/Bills/2026/AL26/32_.HTM