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Murdoch media find a scapegoat for New Jersey’s high electric rates

As data centers demand enormous energy outputs and Garden State grid operators reportedly slow-walk new projects, right-wing media take shots at renewable energy

Special ProgramsClimate & Energy

Written by Ilana Berger

Published 08/27/25

• Murdoch media outlets are blaming high electricity bills in New Jersey on “green-energy mandates.” But experts and local politicians say price hikes are being driven by data centers, which “guzzle electricity around the clock,” and decisions made by the regional operator.

The price of electricity has been on the rise across the country. Between 2021 and 2024, the average monthly residential electricity bill in America went up by $22 per month. Now, energy prices are rising twice as fast as inflation and are expected to increase further.

Several factors, including increased demand for electricity to power new data centers and New Jersey grid operator PJM’s reported failure to quickly connect renewable projects to the grid, are contributing to the rate hikes in New Jersey.

As electricity bills become a prominent concern in New Jersey and across the country, Energy Secretary Chris Wright complained to Politico, “We’re going to get blamed.” Indeed, Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill is set to increase energy costs “by around $165 per household per year in 2030, and by more than $280 in 2035 — a jump of over 13% compared to current costs.” Instead of acknowledging that, Fox News, The Wall Street Journal, and the New York Post are scrambling to find a way to blame rate hikes on now-imperiled renewable energy projects — projects that tech companies fought to keep as they search for ways to make their data centers viable.

• ## Electricity bills have spiked in New Jersey, a result of changes in the state’s energy market

• • In New Jersey, wholesale electric bills rose by 20% in 2025, and ratepayers will likely pay up to 5% more on top of that starting in June 2026. The rate hike has impacted customers of the regional transmission operator PJM, which serves 13 states including New Jersey. The spike came a year after PJM held its annual capacity auction in 2024. During auctions, power generators sell electricity to providers and commit to meet future energy demand. Utility Dive, [7/23/25; Inside Climate News, 8/18/25; Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, accessed 8/19/25]

• • State policymakers and industry insiders agree the key to driving down costs is boosting energy supply.In a letter, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy and eight other governors from states where PJM operates accused it of failing to “efficiently connect new resources to its grid and to engage in effective long-term transmission planning.” According to The Gothamist, although “New Jersey currently has 33 large-scale, shovel-ready solar projects awaiting approval by PJM … many could take a year or 18 months longer to get approval.” The Gothamist, [8/19/25]

• ## Trump has railed against renewables in New Jersey and across the nation

• • Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social: “STUPID AND UGLY WINDMILLS ARE KILLING NEW JERSEY. Energy prices are up 28% this year, and not enough electricity to take care of state. STOP THE WINDMILLS.” Twitter/X, [8/19/25]

• • Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social: “Any State that has built and relied on WINDMILLS and SOLAR for power are seeing RECORD BREAKING INCREASES IN ELECTRICITY AND ENERGY COSTS. THE SCAM OF THE CENTURY! We will not approve wind or farmer destroying Solar. The days of stupidity are over in the USA!!! MAGA” Twitter/X, [8/20/25]

• ## Murdoch media claim that “green-energy mandates” and fossil fuel plant closures are to blame for rate hikes seen in states like New Jersey

• • When asked about skyrocketing electricity bills on Fox Business, Rep. Jeff Van Drew, (R-NJ) told guest host Cheryl Casone, “We needed gas plants — instead of opening new ones, we closed them. … We put billions upon billions of dollars of money from the ratepayers and the taxpayers into foreign corporations for wind energy, which are failed projects.”After Trump railed against wind farms on Truth Social, calling them “the scam of the century,” Casone asked Van Drew, “You also say that offshore wind is a scam and has driven New Jersey energy bills through the roof. What kind of price increases have your constituents seen?” Van Drew has been leading the charge against wind projects in New Jersey for years. Fox Business, *Mornings with Maria*, [8/22/25; Media Matters, 3/23/23]

• • Fox News host Lawrence Jones: “New Jersey residents are waking up to the cost of going green.” Jones interviewed Bjorn Lomborg, who said, “If you want to go green, it has real costs. … People are in rebellion against the high green costs.” Fox News, *Fox and Friends*, [8/18/25]

• • OnFox & Friends Weekend, Charles Hurt said, “New Jersey electric bills have tripled the summer,” and claimed people are blaming Democrats because they’re “always prioritizing global warming over people’s ability to pay their electric bill.” Guest Joe Piscopo, a right-wing radio host, used the segment to promote Jack Ciattarelli, the Republican gubernatorial candidate who “has all the answers to stop these high prices and save energy.” Fox News, *Fox & Friends Weekend*, [8/17/25]

• • The New York Post’s editorial board blamed soaring energy rates in New York “largely” on “green-energy mandates that Gov. Kathy Hochul embraced along with the rest of the party” and said the “‘climate agenda’ is delivering pain we’ve long warned of, in New York and New Jersey.”New York Post, [8/16/25]

• • Fox anchor Jon Scott amplified the Post’s editorial and spoke with Fox News contributor Phil Flynn, who attacked New Jersey’s Democratic gubernatorial candidate, saying, “The Garden State may be where the Green New Deal actually dies because you’re getting such blowback from people getting their electricity bills.”Fox News, *Fox Report with John Scott*, [8/17/25]

• • OnThe Big Money Show, host Dagen McDowell blamed “green-obsessed Gov. Phil Murphy,” saying that “his big ego and his 100% clean electricity production by 2035 plan has all of his constituents paying 15% more for retail power than the national average.” Fox Business, *The Big Money Show*, [8/15/25]

• • Fox & FriendsandAmerica’s Newsroomboth ran a correspondent report on higher electricity prices in New Jersey, blaming the “state's Democratic-led push to shut down coal and nuclear plants without reliable replacements.”The reports quoted Democratic candidate Mikie Sherrill explaining that the regional grid operator is behind the hikes, but correspondent CB Cotton also suggested that sustainable energy policies are to blame. Cotton said on America’s Newsroom, “Critics are blaming the state's Democratic-led push to shut down coal and nuclear plants without reliable replacements, leaving that power grid strained as demand soars” and added, “The outrage is spilling into politics with the governor's race tightening.” She made a similar statement on Fox and Friends. Fox News, *Fox & Friends,* [8/13/25; America’s Newsroom,8/13/25]

• • In the New York Post, conservative writer Bethany Mandel pushed the narrative that the rate hikes in New Jersey are the result of “Democrats’ bungled energy policies.”She also cited an unnamed “energy expert” to claim that hikes are the result of “the state’s aggressive shutdown of coal-powered plants under Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy.” In the op-ed, Mandel also argued that rising costs in the state “could blow November’s race wide open.” New York Post, [8/10/25]

• • Paul H. Tice, who has called climate change a “scam,” wrote a Wall Street Journal op-ed titled “How Phil Murphy Caused New Jersey Electricity Prices to Soar.” Like others, he blamed fossil fuel power plants closures and the state’s commitment to decarbonizing its economy by 2035. Wall Street Journal, [8/8/25; Twitter/X, 9/1/23; 11/26/24]

• ## Several factors, including data center energy usage and long interconnection queues, are contributing to rate hikes

• • In New Jersey, energy supply has not been able to keep up with demand, and experts say that data centers are driving the massive increase in demand. PJM says that in New Jersey alone, data centers “account for 70 percent of projected increase in demand.” But it’s not just a Garden State problem. The International Energy Agency estimates that “driven by AI use, the US economy is set to consume more electricity in 2030 for processing data than for manufacturing all energy-intensive goods combined, including aluminium, steel, cement and chemicals.” International Energy Agency, [4/10/25; New Jersey Policy Press, 5/29/25]

• • PJM has been slow to get new energy projects up and running to meet this demand, with many renewable projects sitting around unplugged.New Jersey's grid hasn't been able to keep up with this increased demand, reportedly largely because of “PJM’s own delays in connecting new energy projects to the grid,” according to New Jersey Policy Perspective. As of March, “143 gigawatts worth of projects — including 79 projects in New Jersey — were awaiting approval in the interconnection queue, enough to power about 115 million homes.” This would nearly double PJM’s current grid supply. Out of these projects, 95% percent are renewable energy or storage projects. New Jersey Policy Perspective, [5/29/25]

• • Unreliable natural gas power plants are also driving up prices for PJM customers, and the operator's governance structure privileges “for-profit, utility, and fossil fuel companies.”According to the Natural Resources Defense Fund, “Since PJM did not account for fossil fuel resource weaknesses in its previous capacity market auctions, customers paid for these plants as if they were reliable. That’s like buying a house at full price only to realize the foundation is crumbling. It now turns out that the repairs are quite expensive.” The small number of projects that PJM has recently connected to the grid have been ”primarily fossil fuel projects," and PJM’s “governance structure … gives significant influence to for-profit, utility and fossil fuel companies,” while operating “largely behind closed doors with limited transparency,” according to New Jersey Policy Perspective. NRDC, [8/22/24; New Jersey Policy Perspective, 5/29/25]

• • Similar trends are playing out on a national scale, with Trump extending the lives of two older power plants that were slated to retire, which could cost U.S. ratepayers billions. The energy consulting firm Grid Strategies found in an August 2025 report that “if the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) mandates that the large fossil fuel power plants scheduled to retire between now and the end of 2028 continue to operate, the cost to ratepayers could exceed $3.1 billion per year.” PJM has publicly supported Department of Energy efforts to keep some coal, oil, and gas plants open, even as “state regulators, regional grid operators, environmental groups, and consumer groups are pushing back” according to Canary Media. Canary Media,[7/10/25, 7/28/25; EarthJustice, 8/14/25]

• • Driven by climate change, extreme weather can also impact electric rates through a vicious cycle.Severe weather can damage infrastructure, requiring expensive repairs and driving utilities to invest in “grid hardening” and resilience measures. Extreme weather events, like the winter storm that bludgeoned Texas in 2021, can also result in emergency pricing because they can cause supply shortages. Federation of American Scientists, [8/18/25; Climate Central, 4/24/24; The Texas Tribune, 2/22/21]

• ## Experts say Trump’s policies will ultimately create a less reliable grid, especially given the high demands of data centers

• • Experts have warned that creating barriers for renewable energy projects at a time when more energy is needed will raise prices for consumers and make the U.S. less competitive. Two former Biden officials who worked on science and technology policy at the White House wrote in Tech Policy Press that Trump’s AI action, which seeks to accelerate the AI growth and development, is being hobbled by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. They said the plan “will not deliver what is needed because it focuses on the past instead of the future. The US will likely end up with higher costs, higher pollution, and less competitiveness.” The officials also wrote that “the US should be enabling new electricity supplies to come online, and quickly. Solar, energy storage, and wind power are clean energy assets that can be quickly deployed to meet AI’s demands, and are the dominant sources of new energy capacity to get connected to the grid today.” According to climate policy think tank Energy Innovation, repealing renewable energy tax credits and other measures laid out in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act will “harm America by cutting new electricity capacity additions, increasing consumer power prices, and reducing U.S. GDP and job growth.” Tech Policy Press, [8/7/25; Energy Innovation, 7/1/25]

• • Trump’s tariffs also threaten grid stability.Trump’s high tariffs on Chinese goods will impact grid-scale storage, as China manufactures “nearly all battery cells used in US utility-scale storage products.” These battery systems are essential for making sure the grid has enough energy to go around when there are spikes in demand due to AI operations. According to Wood Mackenzie, Trump’s tariffs could mean that “the cost of a utility scale solar facility in the US will be 54% more expensive than in Europe and 85% more expensive than a new solar plant built in China.” Utility Dive, [6/9/25, 7/25/25; Wood Mackenzie, 6/2/25]

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