June 7, 2026—Today, New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill signed a package of energy affordability bills, including the Data Center Fair Share Act, sponsored by Assemblyman David Bailey and Senator John Burzichelli. The broader package includes reforms to reduce unnecessary utility costs, strengthen oversight of grid investments, and ensure large data centers pay their fair share instead of shifting costs onto New Jersey families and small businesses.

Last year, Rewiring America's first Homegrown Energy report showed that household energy technologies—heat pumps, rooftop solar, batteries, and other distributed energy resources—could provide enough new capacity to meet most of the electricity demand expected from data center growth. Our follow-on Homegrown Energy blueprint outlined the policies needed to make that vision real, including requiring large new energy users to help fund household and community energy upgrades. New Jersey has now taken an important step toward that future.

Ari Matusiak, CEO and co-founder of Rewiring America, who served on Governor Sherrill’s transition team, released the following statement:

“New Jersey just set a national precedent. This package, and the Data Center Fair Share Act in particular, reflects exactly the kind of Homegrown Energy solution we have been advocating for: large new energy users should pay their own way and help invest in customer-sited energy resources that make the grid cleaner, more flexible, and more affordable.

“This is a breakthrough moment. For the first time, a state has created a policy pathway for data centers to fund verified demand flexibility, including energy efficiency, demand response, behind-the-meter storage, and managed electrification. That means rising electricity demand can become an opportunity to invest in homes, businesses, and communities instead of shifting costs onto families and small businesses.

“And it is especially fitting that Governor Sherrill signed this package at a constituent’s home. That setting captures the larger point: energy policy should deliver for families directly, and households are part of how we build the next generation of energy infrastructure.

“Governor Sherrill, Assemblyman Bailey, Senator Burzichelli, and legislative leaders have established a model other states should follow. This is how we meet growing electricity demand, protect ratepayers, and build the next generation of energy infrastructure from the household up.”