An Act concerning electric transmission facilities and supplementing Title 48 of the Revised Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
C.48:7-28 Findings, declarations.
1. The Legislature finds and declares that:
a. The reliable operation of the electric transmission system is essential to the health, safety, and economic welfare of the residents of the State and to the State’s ongoing response to the electricity affordability emergency declared by the Governor;
b. The regional coordination of electric transmission facilities, through entities approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to serve as regional transmission organizations, independent system operators, or functionally similar entities, promotes system reliability;
c. Membership in such entities is necessary to provide regulatory certainty for transmission planning, protect the State’s investment in regional transmission infrastructure, and ensure that changes in the ownership or business strategy of any individual transmission owner do not disrupt the reliable operation of the State’s electric transmission system; and
d. It is therefore in the public interest of the State to require each electric transmission facility located in New Jersey to be owned and operated by a transmission owner that is a member of, and has transferred operational control of those facilities to, an entity approved by FERC to serve as a regional transmission organization, independent system operator, or functionally similar entity.
C.48:7-29 Transmission owner, membership required, regional transmission organization approved by Federal Energy Regulatory Commission; definitions.
2. a. As used in this section:
“Electric transmission facility” means an interconnected group of electric transmission lines and associated equipment for moving or transferring electric energy in bulk between points of supply and points at which it is transformed for delivery over the distribution system lines to consumers or is delivered to other electric systems.
“RTO” means an entity approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to serve as a regional transmission organization, independent system operator, or functionally similar entity.
“Transmission owner” means the owner or operator of an electric transmission facility.
b. Notwithstanding any law, rule, regulation, or order to the contrary, a transmission owner located in this State on or after the effective date of P.L.2026, c.33 (C.48:7-28 et seq.) shall be a member of, and transfer control of any electric transmission facilities that it owns or operates to, an RTO.
c. The Board of Public Utilities may adopt, pursuant to the “Administrative Procedure Act,” P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.), rules and regulations as may be necessary to implement this section.
3. This act shall take effect on January 1, 2027.
Approved July 7, 2026.