It's the Brian Laird Show on WNYC.

I'm David First, and for Brian today.

Good morning.

Electric bills in New Jersey have been going up for a long time, and now the state's new governor,

governor says she is stepping in.

I'm going to sign my first in a series of executive orders to declare a state of emergency

on utility costs.

As she promised on the campaign trail on day one of her term in office, Governor Mikey

Cheryl, has signed executive orders aimed at freezing certain utility rate increases,

and she declared an energy emergency, framing electricity costs as an affordability crisis

for households across the state. The orders also direct regulators

to speed up new power generation and take a closer look at where rising demand is coming from,

including from large energy-intensive data centers. But New Jersey doesn't set electricity prices

on its own. What People Pay is shaped by a regional power system that serves

multiple states, by longstanding decisions about what kind of energy gets built and connected to the

grid, and by a growing gap between how much electricity the region uses and how much it produces.

To help us understand what is driving these costs and how utility rates are regulated

and what the governor's actions can realistically change.

We are joined by Stephen Rodeus, Environmental Reporter for NJ Advanced Media.

Welcome.

Hey, David.

How's it going?

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