New Jersey Gov. Sherrill wants data centers to pay for their own electricity

Sherrill’s proposal calls for data centers to give financial assistance to the communities where they are located.

Story is from WHYY Radio.

By David Matthau Updated May. 27, 2026 5:11 pm

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New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill on Wednesday laid out a four-point plan that will require data centers to pay for the electricity they use, and to report how much power and water they consume. Legislation is being crafted on these two points. The governor said guidelines are being developed to ensure community development agreements, so that data centers will help the communities where they are located. She said these deals will require data centers to address noise and pollution concerns.

“We’re going to require [data centers] to bring their energy to the grid, contracting with their own power generators, and paying for the grid updates needed to handle the larger load,” Sherrill said. “Instead of asking New Jerseyans to subsidize big tech, we’re asking big tech to improve our grid, making it more efficient and reliable and improving costs for everyone.”

The fourth portion of her plan is to ensure that good-paying, union jobs are created, once a data center location has been established and construction begins to build. “If you’re going to build a data center here you should be using union labor and paying prevailing wages,” Sherrill said.

She said the legislature is also working on a measure to require data center transparency, by reporting energy and water use to the public every six months.

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