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Assembly panel advances bill to require large energy users to cover grid upgrade costs

Assembly Telecommunications and Utilities Committee · February 12, 2026
AI-Generated Content: All content on this page was generated by AI to highlight key points from the meeting. For complete details and context, we recommend watching the full video. so we can fix them.

Summary

The Assembly Telecommunications and Utilities Committee released A796 as amended, a bill that would require large-load customers — expanded beyond data centers — to meet tariff and financial-guarantee requirements so their infrastructure and service costs are not shifted to other ratepayers.

Assemblyman Selma Bailey’s bill A796 cleared the Assembly Telecommunications and Utilities Committee on a motion to release as amended, with the committee voting to advance the measure after public testimony and legislative debate.

The bill requires electric public utilities and the Board of Public Utilities (BPU) to adopt special tariff rules for "large load" customers (a category broadened in committee from large data centers to all large-load customers). Committee amendments update the definition of a large load customer, mandate that tariffs include protections ensuring non-large-load customers are shielded from certain cost increases, and authorize the BPU to require new large-load customers to provide financial guarantees that they will pay for at least 85% of requested service…

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