An analysis Mikie Sherrill's utility price freeze plan
By Josiah Crabtree
web posted November 24, 2025
"Utility costs are out of control in New Jersey. Families are spending almost their entire budget just to pay the electric bill this summer. It's time for action, because people just can't wait any longer. (Utility Cost)" The issue of utility costs was one Mikie Sherrill ran on in New Jersey's governor election. Her plan is presented as a solution to an "energy crisis;" however, the core mechanism she relies on is a price freeze, which is fundamentally inconsistent with basic economic principles. In this paper we will examine Sherrill's plan to fix utility costs for families, see why this plan is fundamentally flawed according to basic economic principles, and then consider what she do instead.
Sherrill's plan centers on using emergency powers to freeze utility costs, preventing companies from raising rates for at least one year. At the same time, she promises to "massively expand" clean and cheap in-state energy to handle rising demand in New Jersey. She plans to accomplish this by accelerating solar construction, upgrading nuclear plants, streamlining natural-gas modernization, and forcing grid operator PJM to connect new projects more quickly. Her goal is simple. She wants to hold down prices while attempting to increase energy supply. In theory, her strategy attempts to combine immediate temporary price relief with long-term infrastructure expansion. However, the short-run and long-run components of this plan contradict each other economically.
The main flaw with her proposal is that setting a price ceiling that is below equilibrium price will create an energy shortage. When prices are held down by an external factor the quantity demanded increases while quantity supplied decreases. Historical examples, such as the California energy crisis of 2000, demonstrate that forcing prices below market levels can reduce supply and contribute to system instability. Sherrill's plan depends on rapidly growing energy supply by eliminating "unnecessary red tape and permitting delays to open up the floodgates on new cheaper, and cleaner energy projects." While this sounds amazing, with setting a price ceiling you are discouraging companies from expanding. This is besides the fact that nuclear upgrades and battery storage projects wouldn't be completed until after her one-year freeze had already expired. Her price freeze cannot solve an infrastructure shortage and would worsen economic conditions.
A more sustainable solution would focus on increasing supply without imposing price controls. Reducing unnecessary permitting barriers could accelerate new projects and improve grid capacity. Yet these reforms would be significantly weakened by a price ceiling, which removes the financial incentives that firms rely on to invest. Maintaining a pricing structure that allows utilities to recover their costs is necessary to support long-term infrastructure growth.
While Mikie Sherrill may have good intentions with her utility price freeze plan, economically this will not work in the long run. It would be addressing the symptoms, and not the actual problem. With a price ceiling, the state risks energy shortages, especially as major data centers place heavy demands on the grid. In a worst-case scenario, the combination of shortages and high system stress could lead to statewide rolling blackouts. Lasting affordability will not come from Sherrill's plan of freezing prices but will have to come from increasing energy production. 
This is Josiah Crabtree's first contribution to Enter Stage Right. (c) 2025 Josiah Crabtree
