Credit: (AP/Mel Evans)

Where does New Jersey get its electricity? Like most deceptively simple questions, the answer is surprisingly complex, as Tom Johnson, NJ Spotlight’s energy & environment writer, discusses with Alan Tu, the New Jersey editor of WHYY/NewsWorks.

New Jersey uses about 17,000 megawatts of power annually, some 75 percent of it generated in-state, predominantly by PSE&G, New Jersey’s largest utility. The remaining 25 percent is imported from out of state.

But that only begins to answer the question. How much of New Jersey’s electricity is generated by coal-fired plants, how much by natural-gas-fired facilities? And how much is generated with nuclear power. And how has the discovery of the vast reserves of natural gas affected that balance of power?

The complete answer — including a quick rundown of power auctions — is definitely worth checking out.

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