Executives from the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities and PJM, the 13-state power grid that New Jersey belongs to, appeared before lawmakers Friday to explain why electric bills statewide are set to go up in June.

“Nobody saw this coming, OK?” said PJM's senior vice president Asim Haque. “This major uptick in demand over the past few years.”

“We need more resources, particularly large-scale resources,” said NJ BPU President Christine Guhl-Sadovy. “We had that in offshore wind.”

Officials said the demand has increased dramatically from sources like AI data centers and electrification - but supply has lagged behind.

The BPU says the rate hikes came after PJM’s annual auction, where capacity prices hit record highs.

Both sides of the aisle were united in their distaste, but for different reasons.

“It’s a scam! We are being scammed,” said Democratic Senator Bob Smith. “There needs to be an investigation of your policies at PJM.”

“You can’t completely electrify the state in such a short period of time with - for the wind industry - a failed business model,” said Republican Sen. Anthony Bucco.

How to best move forward requires a balancing act - with Republican Senator Michael Testa proposing natural gas, while Guhl-Sadovy said that clean energy drives down prices.

BPU officials also cited assistance programs for homes with difficulty paying their bills.