New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill calls on AI data centers to "pay their own way" amid spiking energy costs
New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill is calling on AI data centers to help upgrade the state's electrical grid and mitigate their impact on customers' energy bills.
Sherrill was joined by Sen. John Burzichelli in a news conference in Trenton Wednesday to announce "guardrails on data centers."
The first-term Democratic governor called on the New Jersey General Assembly to deliver legislation that ensures data centers create their own energy and "pay their own way."
"We're going to require them to bring their energy to the grid, contracting with their own power generators, and paying for the grid upgrades needed to handle the larger load," Sherrill said.
Modern data centers are the single biggest driver of the increasing demand for energy, Sherrill said, and the data centers needed to support AI demand far more energy than the data centers of the past.
"Today's data centers sometimes use 300 megawatts, enough to power entire towns. That skyrocketing demand is outpacing supply and jacking up all of our electric bills," Sherrill said.
Sherrill also called for a second bill to require data centers to report energy and water usage to the public every six months.
"People deserve to know what's being built in their communities and what shared resources are being used. Today, the public has no clue how much energy and water these data centers actually need," Sherrill said.
The news conference comes about two weeks after dozens of New Jersey-based community and environmental advocacy groups sent Sherrill a letter calling for a moratorium on data centers. The organizations cited their impact on utility bills and consumption of natural resources.
CBS News reported that artificial intelligence has sparked a demand for data centers, and reports, including one from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, say data centers are driving up utility bills.
There are 14 states that are considering or have considered moratoriums on data centers, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Sherrill issued an executive order on her first day in office to freeze electricity rate hikes.
On the local level, a handful of municipalities in New Jersey have instituted bans on data centers, including Monroe Township in Gloucester County.
And in Kenilworth, Union County, a borough planning board meeting was canceled on Tuesday after a crowd gathered to protest a planned 400,000-square-foot AI data center.
