Affordable Energy For New Jersey Applauds NJDEP honesty regarding anticipated state electricity needs
Encourages NJBPU to listen to NJDEP and revisit debunked Energy Master Plan Assumptions
(Trenton, NJ) – Affordable Energy for New Jersey, the state’s leading voice for transparency in energy policy for the rate and taxpayers, today applauded the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) for transparency addressing concerns about the pace, cost and predicted energy demand of electrification by the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (NJBPU) in the state.
In its rule postponing the implementation of a mandate calling for electrification of all commercial boilers, the NJDEP noted that electricity demand is expected to double over the next few decades, in part due to the administration’s goal to electrify both the building and transportation sectors. As a result, the transition to 100% clean energy will require natural gas power plants to maintain the reliability of the electric grid in the interim, according to the agency. This comment directly contradicts all statements, reports and ‘subject matter’ experts cited by the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities, the mastermind organization of the Energy Master Plan (EMP).
Common sense and simple logic would say that by drastically increasing the amount of electricity-dependent devices and equipment the demand for electricity would increase — the NJBPU continues to claim otherwise despite all evidence to the contrary. The fact that the NJDEP is now joining the chorus when they claim in official regulatory filings electricity demand is expected to double flies directly in the face of every assumption and potential scenario considered in the original 2019 New Jersey Integrated Energy Plan, a document with proprietary formulas which served as the foundation for the Energy Master Plan. The NJBPU’s 2019 IEP predicts that electricity use will decline through 2050.
“It is time for the NJBPU to heed the warning of the NJDEP and acknowledge the reality of the situation,” said AENJ executive director Ron Morano.” The singular assumption of the energy master plan put forward by the NJBPU, which Affordable Energy for New Jersy questioned from the start, is that we can electrify everything, yet somehow demand for electricity will decrease. This has now clearly been debunked by the NJDEP and we appreciate their honesty.”
The challenging of these fundamental assumptions in the Energy Master Plan was one of the first items questioned by Affordable Energy for New Jersey at its founding. Since that day, AENJ has simply asked the NJBPU to open their books to make their assumptions and calculations available for standard scientific peer review. The public continues to deserve answers and for the NJBPU to admit the truth while heading back to the drawing board. It has been over 1064 days since the Energy Master Plan was introduced and yet the public has not been told how much this will cost.
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