Commercial battery storage in New Jersey, priced on the tag, not the promise.
New Jersey's behind-the-meter storage incentive was still under development, with no rate set, as of August 2026. What New Jersey does have is the highest transmission tag in PJM: a PSE&G account on competitive supply pays about $170 per kW-year on its transmission peak-load share, and a battery discharging in the right six hours can take that down. KEEL prices New Jersey on what is filed today and treats the incentive as upside if it arrives.
Utilities KEEL prices in New Jersey
KEEL's New Jersey tariff work is in PSE&G and JCP&L territory, which together cover most of the state's commercial load. Atlantic City Electric and Rockland Electric accounts are screened from the bill on request.
| Utility | Rate classes | Demand charge as read | What it means for a battery |
|---|---|---|---|
| PSE&G | GLP / LPL (general and large power) | Distribution demand per filed tariff, plus transmission billed on the account's PJM transmission tag at $14.15 per kW-month | The transmission line, about $170 per kW-year on the tag, is the largest controllable charge for an account whose supply contract passes it through. |
| JCP&L | GP / GT (general power, transmission) | Distribution demand per filed tariff; transmission recovered per kWh, not per kW | No transmission-tag saving, because JCP&L bills transmission volumetrically. Capacity is still billed per kW of obligation, so the capacity tag is live. |
Rates as read from the filed tariffs in August 2026. Utilities re-file often; KEEL re-reads the effective sheet on the day a project is priced.
What a battery earns in New Jersey
The highest transmission tag in PJM
PSE&G recovers the largest transmission revenue requirement in PJM over a comparatively small zone, so its transmission charge is about $170 per kW-year on the account's tag. The tag is set by one zonal peak hour, one hour later than the PJM system peak.
PJM capacity at the cap
Capacity has cleared at the cap for 2027/28 and 2028/29. Both PSE&G and JCP&L bill capacity per kW of the account's obligation, so a battery discharging in the five PJM peak hours lowers next year's charge.
Demand charges and backup
Distribution demand charges on both utilities plus the value of keeping elevators, life-safety and refrigeration up through an outage. The demand side is modeled from the filed tariff on the day of pricing.
State and utility programs
New Jersey's storage incentive for behind-the-meter systems is still in development. The stack today is federal, PJM and, where solar is in scope, SREC-II.
| Program | What it pays | Who can claim it | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Federal investment tax credit (§48E) | 30%+ of eligible cost: a 30% base (prevailing-wage rules apply at 1 MW and above) plus a 10-point adder for domestic content | The owner of the equipment; nonprofits and public bodies by direct pay | See the federal guide. |
| Garden State Energy Storage Program, Phase 2 (distributed / behind-the-meter) | No rate set as of August 2026 | To be determined | Phase 1 is open only to systems of 5 MW and above with a transmission interconnection. Phase 2 is listed as "under development" by the program administrator. KEEL models it at zero until the Board sets a rate. |
| SREC-II (paired solar) | $100–$110 per MWh for non-residential rooftop, fixed for 15 years (energy year 2027) | Solar generation | Storage alone earns nothing under SREC-II. Relevant where solar is in the project. |
| PJM capacity and transmission tag management | Avoided capacity and transmission charges on the account's tags | Accounts on competitive supply with pass-through | PSE&G: both tags. JCP&L: capacity only. On a fixed all-in supply contract the supplier keeps the saving. Tag avoidance and PJM demand-response payments cannot both be taken on the same kW. |
| New Jersey virtual power plant program | Not yet a program | — | A Board staff straw proposal in 2026 contemplates commercial participation and third-party aggregators with an interim launch no earlier than mid-2027. Zero modeled revenue. |
Read from program documents and filed tariffs in August 2026. Programs open, fill and change; KEEL confirms each line against the live source before it goes in a proposal. The federal credit applies in every state on top of what is listed here, subject to the conditions in that guide.
What to watch in New Jersey
- PSE&G's tags reset once a year. A battery installed mid-year produces no tag saving until the next reset, and the lease is priced with that lag.
- Capturing the PSE&G transmission tag takes a six-hour dispatch strategy: the five PJM system peaks plus the zonal peak an hour later. A battery tuned only to the system peak misses the biggest line.
- The Garden State storage incentive has missed its own launch deadlines. If it opens with a rate, KEEL re-runs the model; until then it is not in the number.
- New Jersey's corporate business tax is 9% for most lessees; the additional 2.5% transit fee applies only above $10 million of allocated income and sunsets at the end of 2028.
How KEEL prices a New Jersey project: read the supply contract before anything else, because in New Jersey the largest line depends on it. On PSE&G it models both the capacity and transmission tags with a six-hour dispatch; on JCP&L, capacity only. Distribution demand is modeled from the tariff in force on the day of pricing. The state storage incentive and the VPP program are carried at zero, and SREC-II only where solar is in scope.
What to send
Twelve months of electric bills for the meter you have in mind (interval data if you have it), the service address and the rate class printed on the bill. That is enough for a first read on demand charges, program eligibility and a monthly payment range. See Lease vs. Buy for how the numbers land under each structure, or schedule a property review.
Common questions
Is there a New Jersey incentive for commercial battery storage?
Not yet for behind-the-meter systems. The Garden State Energy Storage Program's distributed phase was still under development with no rate set as of August 2026; Phase 1 covers only 5 MW-plus transmission-connected projects. KEEL prices New Jersey on the federal credit, the tariff and PJM tags, and treats the state incentive as upside.
Why is the PSE&G transmission charge such a big deal?
PSE&G's filed transmission charge is about $14.15 per kW-month, roughly $170 per kW-year, billed on the account's share of the zone's single peak hour. It is the highest in PJM. A battery discharging in that hour lowers next year's share, provided the supply contract passes the charge through to the customer.
Does the same apply on JCP&L?
Only for capacity. JCP&L recovers transmission per kWh rather than per kW, so a battery does not reduce it, but JCP&L still bills capacity per kW of obligation, and that tag is live.
Have a New Jersey building in mind?
Send the address and a bill. KEEL returns the demand-charge read, the program lines the site qualifies for and a monthly payment range, with the source for each.