New Jersey: data centers & your electric bill
The numbers residents cite at hearings — grid, water, and regulator contacts for New Jersey, from the free GridWatch toolkit.
Subscribe by RSS — moratorium changes and community headlines for New Jersey.
As of July 2026 · changes over months · Source: U.S. Data Center Power Map by State — ElectricChoice.com compilation (updated July 2026; CC-BY 4.0). Underlying load research: LBNL 2024 US Data Center Energy Usage Report; rates: EIA
Facility counts vary by directory because each one draws the boundary differently — DataCenterMap lists 44 in Alabama where this table says 35, since it counts small network rooms alongside hyperscale campuses. Cite the TWh figure rather than the facility count when you can; it is the number that speaks to grid impact. Underlying load research is LBNL-2001637 (Dec 2024).
Your regulator
New Jersey Board of Public Utilities — website · file a complaint
Official state energy data: EIA New Jersey electricity profile — generation, prices, and consumption from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Pushback already happening in New Jersey
| Where | Level | Status | Note | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monroe Township (Gloucester Co.) | Local | Enacted | Two ordinances banning data centers township-wide. Hexa Builders is suing for more than $300M in federal court — the test case for whether a small municipality can absorb the litigation risk of a ban | Source read 2026-08-04 |
| Phillipsburg | Local | Enacted | Ordinance 2026-08 prohibits data centers throughout the town; council is folding the ban into the master plan to harden it against challenge | Source read 2026-08-04 |
| Warren | Local | Enacted | Township ban on data centers | Source read 2026-08-04 |
| Jersey City | Local | Proposed | Ordinance 26-057 would bar data centers as the principal use of industrial land. Passed first reading and the planning board; final council vote set for Aug 19, 2026 | Source read 2026-08-04 |
| Howell Township | Local | Proposed | Ordinance reconfirming data centers as a prohibited use; public hearing and final vote set for Aug 18, 2026 | Source read 2026-08-04 |
| Andover Township | Local | Proposed | Township moved to ban AI data centers after a contentious public meeting; faces a suit from National Land Developers over a former airport site | Source read 2026-08-04 |
| Summit | Local | Enacted | Ordinance banning AI data centers (20+ MW or significant municipal water impact) and, separately, detention centers, passed the same night — the data-center ban is permanent zoning, not a time-limited pause, aimed partly at keeping one off the former Bristol Myers Squibb campus. Some residents say the ordinance's enforcement mechanism falls short. | Source read 2026-08-12 |
| Cherry Hill | Local | Enacted | Ordinance prohibiting data centers as a non-permitted use, unanimous; small server rooms for standalone businesses still allowed. Most populous municipality in Camden County | Source read 2026-08-13 |
| Medford | Local | Enacted | Ordinance prohibiting data centers within town limits, unanimous. Preemptive — no proposals pending | Source read 2026-08-13 |
| Mansfield Township (Burlington Co.) | Local | Enacted | Ordinance banning data centers as a named use category, unanimous. 27th NJ municipality to pass a local ban | Source read 2026-08-13 |
| Chesterfield | Local | Enacted | Ban on data centers in all zones, adopted alongside Mansfield Township | Source read 2026-08-13 |
| Berkeley Heights | Local | Enacted | Permanent ban on data centers in all zones, unanimous; followed debate over potential Nokia site conversion | Source read 2026-08-13 |
| East Brunswick | Local | Proposed | Zoning ban on data centers in commercial, business and industrial districts advanced by council; hearing set for Aug 10 | Source read 2026-08-13 |
| Waterford Township (Camden Co.) | Local | Enacted | Ban on data centers in all zoning districts; cited heightened concerns as a Pinelands Community | Source read 2026-08-13 |
| Plainfield | Local | Proposed | Citywide ban across all zoning districts introduced by council; final vote scheduled Aug 10. Council rejected a weaker regulatory approach in May | Source read 2026-08-13 |
| North Plainfield | Local | Proposed | Ordinance 26-10 banning data centers borough-wide, 6-0 first reading; second reading and public hearing pending | Source read 2026-08-13 |
| Red Bank | Local | Enacted | Ban on data centers; council also called on NJ to impose statewide moratorium | Unverified |
| Asbury Park | Local | Enacted | Data center ban | Unverified |
As of August 2026 · changes weekly — re-check before citing
Illustrative rather than exhaustive — dozens of localities churn weekly, and this tracks the ones we have read a source for. **Each row carries its own provenance.** Rows showing a verification date link to the ordinance, the enacting body's own page, or a datable report of the vote, and were read on that date. Rows marked *unverified* came from bulk compilation and have not been checked against a primary source — the locality, the year, and the status may all be off. Verify one of those with the town clerk before citing it as precedent. **Expiry is derived, not asserted.** A row with a documented end date flips to *Expired* on its own once that date passes. A time-limited moratorium whose start date was never documented keeps showing as enacted — that is a known gap, not a claim that it is still in force. Moratoriums are also routinely extended, so an expiry date is the earliest it could have ended, not proof that it did.
Known data center campuses in New Jersey
| Operator | Location | Tenant | Filing LLC |
|---|---|---|---|
| CoreWeave | Kenilworth (NEST11) | — | Mostly TENANT in partners' buildings: Core Scientific, Chirisa/Bulk, Flexential, Lincoln, TierPoint, Digital Realty, DataBank, Switch, Galaxy, Applied Digital |
⏳ No verification date recorded · changes over months · Source: Operator ownership & filing-LLC naming patterns — compiled from operator releases and county filings, then checked against SEC EDGAR full-text search. Composite, not a single citation: look the entity up yourself before naming it in a filing
Each row carries its own attribution level — first-party rows come from the operator's own site, but colocation and REIT ownership was compiled from trade press and never passed an independent fact-check. Check the attribution column before citing a row.
Every data center already built in New Jersey
The campuses above are the ones GridWatch tracks by operator and filing LLC. For the full inventory — street addresses of every existing facility, including the smaller colocation and network sites — DataCenterMap keeps a public directory for New Jersey.
Browse the New Jersey directory →
Two caveats before you cite it at a hearing: it lists facilities that already exist, so a newly proposed campus will not appear; and it counts a small network room the same as a hyperscale campus, so the facility count is not a measure of power draw or community impact.
Latest New Jersey data center news
US Data Center Power Consumption by State (2026)
Bayonne says no to new data centers
Parsippany has a data center, but not the kind making headlines
Bayonne Bans Data Centers After Months of Pressure from Residents and Grassroots Activists
AI Data Centers Ban Demanded In Manchester
Bayonne becomes latest municipality to ban data centers
State municipal league: New Jersey State League of Municipalities
A data center was proposed near you?
The free toolkit walks you through it in five steps: who's really behind the LLC, what it costs your community, what to do this week, and a downloadable action pack — speech, letters, flyer, and CBA targets included.