Blog Published June 18, 2026 · 4 minute read
Summer Preview: New Analysis Shows New Jerseyans Should Expect Extreme Price Spikes on Summer Electric Bills
Every summer, energy demand surges nationwide as Americans cope with rising temperatures. More and more Americans experience extreme summer heat and need to power on air conditioners to cool down. For many families, it’s an annual tradition: higher temperatures mean higher energy bills—this summer, price hikes will hit even harder.
New analysis shows that New Jersey residents' total electricity bills for summer 2026 could exceed $1,100.
New projections show that this summer will be even more expensive. The United States is currently experiencing record energy demand driven by data center growth, domestic manufacturing, and electrification. And we simply aren't bringing on new energy quickly enough or in large enough quantities to meet rising demand affordably.
All that demand is placing further strain on our already-burdened electric grid, which is aging and long overdue for major infrastructure repairs.
These factors combined—seasonal demand spikes made worse by climate change, arriving amid already record-high electricity demand and putting additional stress on a strained energy grid—mean New Jersey is in for a summer of scorching temperatures and steep energy bills.
The state has already seen some of the fastest electricity price growth in the country, and, as of late 2025, New Jersey residents paid 25% more than the national average for their electricity.
Utility Spotlight
PSE&G customers faced major price spikes between 2025 and 2026. In May 2025, PSE&G customers paid about $102 for their electricity. By July of that year, they paid $264 for their electricity, a 159% increase.
This year, May bills are about 20% higher for PSE&G customers— around $122 for the month. If prices continue to rise as they did last summer, total summer electricity bills (June-September) could be almost $950.
May 2025 data from MIT and Heatmap showed the average New Jersey resident was spending $106 on their electricity bills. By July, they were spending $285, a 169% increase.
New projections show that this summer will be even more expensive. This year, forecasts from the National Energy Assistance Directors Association (NEADA) show residential utility bills in New Jersey rising about 7.9% from last year. Applying NEADA’s projected rate of increase to recent electricity bills from MIT and Heatmap puts summer bills in the Garden State at $950, up from $880 last summer.
But a closer look at real-time electricity bills from New Jersey suggests that summer electricity costs could far exceed NEADA’s estimate. This year, New Jerseyans are entering the summer with higher baseline bills: the typical May 2026 bill was around $140, about 30% higher than last year’s. If costs increase at a similar rate as last year, July bills will be around $379. Total electricity bills for summer 2026 could exceed $1,150.
What’s Next?
Rising energy costs are a compounding problem, and delayed action only makes the problem at hand more daunting. Federal, state, and local governments should work together to expand generation and improve our aging grid. Instead, the Trump administration has made it significantly harder to meet rising energy demand.
To grow domestic energy generation and mitigate the impact of rising electricity demand, increasing clean energy deployment is a natural next step. Clean energy sources like wind, solar, and batteries take less time to build and aren’t subject to the same kind of supply chain shortages and price fluctuations that plague natural gas. But the Trump Administration has stymied clean energy deployment by undermining financing for clean energy, imposing administrative roadblocks that delay project reviews, and formally deprioritizing low-cost resources like solar and wind in federal directives.
Some estimates suggest the Administration has canceled or blocked 22 GW of clean energy deployment from coming online. To put that in perspective, the number of projects canceled in Q1 of 2026 alone could power between 2 and 3 million homes and businesses each year.
For Garden State residents, the consequences of cuts to clean energy are personal. Ideological actions by the administration, like issuing a stop-work order for the Empire Wind offshore wind project and withdrawing a $716 million federal loan guarantee for transmission upgrades, slow or block the deployment of much-needed new generation in the state. That means even higher energy costs for New Jersey residents because of political obstruction.
It’s normal for energy prices to rise over the course of the summer. But the current pressures on our energy sector, combined with recent federal policy failures, mean consumers are facing devastating price hikes. Accelerating clean energy buildout can mitigate rising prices and give consumers some much-needed relief as we enter the warmer summer months.
