STATEMENT TO

[Third Reprint]

ASSEMBLY, No. 796

with Senate Floor Amendments

(Proposed by Senator BURZICHELLI)

ADOPTED: JUNE 18, 2026

      These floor amendments to the bill:

      (1) remove the definition of “capacity value” and add a definition of “capacity resource”;

      (2) direct the BPU to consider the total energy demand, rather than the energy demand related to computation only, when aggregating together certain data centers for the purposes of the bill;

      (3) make minor changes to the standards for the provision of electricity to large data centers that the BPU is required to develop, under subsection b. of section 1 of the bill, including requiring electric public utilities to submit the peak load contribution of large data center customers to New Jersey’s regional transmission organization (i.e., PJM Interconnection);

      (4) require electric utilities to make the demand-reduction trade programs they develop under the bill available to all data center customers, rather than to large data center customers only;

      (5) make minor changes to the ratepayer protection standards that the BPU is required to develop, under subsection d. of section 1 of the bill, including requiring that any new large data center customer provides adequate financial guarantees that it will pay for at least 85 percent of the electricity supply, rather than the service, it requests for a period of 10 years from when service commences;

      (6) remove a provision that would have made the tariff developed by electric utilities under the bill applicable only to new large data center customers;

      (7) add a new subsection g. to section 1 of the bill that provides an exemption from certain provisions of the bill for large data centers that are approved for service by an electric public utility prior to the bill’s effective date; and

      (8) make technical and clarifying changes.