PJM Archives | Citizens Utility Board

CUB Q&A: PJM’s Critical Issue Fast Path (CIFP) Policy Proposal on Data Centers

Elizabeth — Thu, 13 Nov 2025 16:12:51 +0000

What’s happening? On Wednesday, November 19, PJM members will vote on how to integrate data centers into the grid. As we’ve detailed elsewhere, data centers require massive amounts of electricity and drive up consumer costs. Some, but not all, proposals would ensure that data centers only connect to the electric system if we maintain reliability and affordability. Who is voting? PJM has 5 different types of members, Generation Owners, Transmission Owners, Electric Distributors, Other Suppliers, and End Use Customers (big industrial users of electricity and consumer advocates, like CUB). If you’re noticing how much power big monied interests have, and how little consumers have, you’re not wrong. Do state lawmakers have a vote? No. Does anyone represent the public interest? Only the 14 voting consumer advocate offices. Big tech companies like Google, Amazon, and Meta are not yet PJM members. How does the vote work? What are they voting on? There are 20 proposals! They all fall on a spectrum of doing next-to-nothing to protect reliability and affordability, to actually making data centers take responsibility for themselves. PJM Members can vote “yes” on multiple proposals. The vote is advisory, which means the PJM Board does not have to follow its results. However, proposals getting a significant amount of votes will certainly attract the PJM Board’s attention. What are the issues important to consumers? CUB is evaluating proposals based on the following criteria: -Require data centers to bring their own new generation or demand response for consistent service. Stealing existing generation doesn’t count. -…if data centers don’t bring their own generation or demand response, then they are required to act flexibly or be interruptible (can turn them off as needed). Data centers must never cause blackouts for the rest of us. -Improve the load forecast to make sure that PJM doesn’t double-count speculative data centers. -Overall, prevent data center capacity, energy, and transmission costs from falling on consumers. Which proposals meet CUB’s criteria? CUB has joined in with consumer advocates from Maryland and Pennsylvania on a proposal, called the Joint Consumer Advocates proposal. The proposal protects consumers from high capacity costs, limits energy costs, improves load forecasting, extends the price cap for two years, and starts a new stakeholder process to prevent data centers from increasing our transmission costs. The proposal was carefully developed with consumers at the forefront. Other proposals that meet CUB’s criteria include proposals by the Independent Market Monitor, the Legislative Collaborative/NRDC, and Silverman/Glatz. What are the stakes? Rolling blackouts and spiking bills. If nothing is done, we are looking at an average monthly increase of $70 on our monthly electric bills by 2028. By 2033, it could be $163 billion across all of PJM. That’s unacceptable. Read our other WatchBlog articles about reining in data center costs: How data centers are raising our bills in Illinois–and what we should do about it Data center distress: CUB, NRDC experts warn PJM states could get hit with forced blackouts, $163B in electricity capacity costs

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Data center distress: CUB, NRDC experts warn PJM states could get hit with forced blackouts, $163B in electricity capacity costs

Jim Chilsen — Thu, 23 Oct 2025 21:36:40 +0000

Record new demand from data centers is driving up energy costs and concerns about reliable power supply. Preliminary utility forecasts in PJM Interconnection, the largest power grid operator in the country, show that data centers could require more than 50 gigawatts of peak electricity capacity by 2030 — enough to power more than 20 million households, or approximately all the homes in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia, and Maryland combined. At a media briefing hosted by Consumers for a Better Grid on October 22, experts from the Citizens Utility Board of Illinois and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) provided context for what is at stake for consumers and grid reliability if skyrocketing data center energy demand isn’t addressed, and provided potential solutions that put consumers first. The panelists noted that electricity demand from proposed data centers is the primary reason for recent electricity bill spikes for residents living in PJM states, according to PJM’s Independent Market Monitor. Steeply increasing forecast data center growth was responsible for $9.3 billion of a $14 billion regional capacity bill in 2025/26, and hitting the higher market cap starting in the summer of 2028 will result in a total of $163 billion cumulatively in capacity costs through 2033 (including $21.4 billion for ComEd territory in northern Illinois). That translates to a $70-per-month increase for the average household, according to NRDC. (See this fact sheet for more details.) PJM is currently evaluating options to address this new load demand in a process called the Critical Issue Fast Path (CIFP). Any decisions made during this process will have huge ramifications on consumers—from the price of electricity, to how to deal with who doesn’t get electricity supply during times of high demand, to what types of new energy sources are added or fast-tracked for development. PJM’s current proposal does not require data centers to reduce energy consumption during peak demand times, which could lead to rolling blackouts. PJM is also proposing a 10-month fast track for new resources, meaning these projects will effectively “jump” the Interconnection Queue, which primarily comprises clean energy projects that have been waiting over five years for approval. A better approach, as noted by Consumers for a Better Grid, would require data centers to cover their own costs and bring their own capacity, utilize energy efficiency and demand flexibility, and improve load forecasting to prevent overpaying. Speakers included Claire Lang-Ree, Advocate for the Sustainable FERC Project, Natural Resources Defense Council and Clara Summers, Consumers for a Better Grid Campaign Manager, Citizens Utility Board of Illinois. Quotes from speakers: Claire Lang-Ree, Advocate for the Sustainable FERC Project, Natural Resources Defense Council: “Average utility bills have already increased by $20 to $30 due to the price increase that we saw in the last auction, and this problem will just get worse through the coming decade if nothing is done. We’re estimating that average bills could increase by another $70 per month.” “It’s hard to overstate what’s at stake here. The basic problem in PJM is that projected demand is outpacing supply.” “When we talk about reliability, sometimes it can be difficult to understand, does that mean […]

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How data centers are raising our bills in Illinois–and what we should do about it

Elizabeth — Tue, 19 Aug 2025 17:24:27 +0000

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CUB Q and A: Another capacity auction, more bad news–so what happened?

Jim Chilsen — Thu, 31 Jul 2025 23:43:19 +0000

By Clara Summers Manager, CUB’s Consumers for a Better Grid Campaign You may have seen a flurry of news about electric bill increases due to something called a “capacity auction.” Or worse, you opened your June ComEd bill and saw a sharp uptick. You can learn more about PJM’s capacity market and this year’s price spike in our previous blog, and by visiting our Help Center. Sadly, there’s more bad news. Prices are going up yet again–next June. Let’s break it down. So what’s happening to ComEd bills? The price spike we are experiencing now was set in stone last July. That’s when PJM held its auction for 2025/2026 to determine what we pay for reserve electricity, or capacity. It was bad enough when prices reached record highs for that auction, but PJM just set another record for its 2026/2027 auction, which will go into effect on June 1, 2026. The auction price jumped 22 percent, increasing from $269.92 per Megawatt-day to $329.17 per MW-day. That doesn’t mean your bill will go up 22 percent–capacity is only one component of ComEd’s supply price for electricity–but it does mean your bill will increase.* ComEd initially said bills will go up by about 2 percent next year–on top of the spike consumers are feeling now–but we won’t know final estimates until sometime next May. Did anything change since the last auction? After last year’s devastating auction results, advocates sprung into action. Environmental organizations filed a complaint at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) about how PJM made ratepayers pay extra for otherwise retiring coal plants, but then ignored them in the capacity auction, falsely reducing supply. Consumer advocates supported that complaint and added our own, where we argued, among other things, that PJM wasn’t counting the contribution of many renewables either. PJM changed its rules for the better in response to these complaints. Gov. Shapiro of Pennsylvania also brought a complaint to FERC, saying that the normal price cap of $500 per MW-day should be lowered until the interconnection queue starts working again. (Remember, a major factor for these high prices is PJM’s interconnection queue delay). PJM and Gov. Shapiro agreed on a regional price cap of $329.17 per MW-day for the next two auctions. While there were other parts of the agreement that raised consumer advocate concerns, we supported the price cap. The most recent auction, setting prices that will take effect next June, hit the price cap negotiated by Gov. Shapiro. PJM did an analysis of what the clearing price would have been without the new price cap, and holding all else equal, the price cap saved consumers an estimated $2.9 billion. As a consumer advocate, we are relieved that there was a price cap that protected ratepayers from even worse outcomes, but are still frustrated that we got here in the first place. Why is the capacity price going up even more? Significant increases in demand, combined with a restriction in supply (the frozen interconnection queue), cause prices to go high. The biggest contributor to the price spike in this auction was large loads, such as data centers. They […]

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CUB statement on FERC ordering PJM to make interconnection improvements

Jim Chilsen — Sat, 26 Jul 2025 15:58:42 +0000

The following is a statement from Clara Summers, manager of the Citizens Utility Board’s Consumers for a Better Grid Campaign. (Read CUB’s full statement here.) We thank the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for ordering PJM to take specific steps to finally update its interconnection queue rules to meet national standards. PJM is now required to plan for battery storage and Grid Enhancing Technologies (GETs) in commonsense ways. In light of two straight years of record-high prices in PJM’s capacity auction–and demands from multiple states to clean up its act and better protect customers from price spikes–it is high time for the power grid operator to get back on track. Sixty-seven million customers in the nation’s largest power grid have been subjected to unreasonably high power bills because of PJM’s inaction. We hope that these changes, combined with PJM’s recent plans to use AI to more quickly complete studies, will speed up the woefully beleaguered interconnection queue. We urge the grid operator to make the ordered changes and work with PJM states and environmental and consumer advocates to process the interconnection queue faster and reduce prices. Background: On Thursday, July 24, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a ruling on PJM Interconnection’s request (filed in May of 2024) for exceptions to comply with Order 2023. FERC… For the third time sent the issue back to PJM to come up with a new plan for compliance around how it studies battery storage and Grid Enhancing Technologies (GETs). PJM will finally be required to make realistic assumptions and plan for the grid of the future. However, FERC also approved PJM’s longer interconnection queue study timeline. FERC Order 2023 is a set of reforms the Commission issued in July of 2023. It is designed to help power grid operators across the nation modernize their grids and streamline the interconnection process to reduce the wait time for new power plants to come online. PJM has the nation’s longest wait times in its “interconnection queue,” the line of new energy resources waiting to connect to the grid and come online. The wait time for those resources–mostly wind, solar and battery projects–is more than five years. The resources stuck in PJM’s queue could provide abundant and low-cost energy for the region and bring down the record-high prices in PJM’s capacity market, but the wait times are so long that some of them don’t even get built. In June of 2024, seven organizations — including CUB, the Sierra Club, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and the Union of Concerned Scientists, represented by Earthjustice — filed a protest to PJM’s request for exceptions. Among other things, CUB argues… If PJM has publicly stated that the grid is in a crisis caused by supply constraints and rising demand, then why is it slow-walking interconnection reforms? PJM, for example, requested that FERC allow it 540 days to complete two studies required for the interconnection process–significantly longer than the time called for in the federal reforms. PJM takes an illogical and problematic stance on batteries, assuming that energy storage will sap electricity from the grid during peak-demand times, when it […]

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PJM Capacity Auction Leads to Record Price Spike for Second Straight Year, Threatens Even Higher Com Ed Bills in 2026-27

Elizabeth — Tue, 22 Jul 2025 21:24:13 +0000

CUB released the following statement: While we are relieved that the negotiated price cap prevented capacity costs from soaring even higher, this record price spike is unacceptable. CUB is deeply concerned that ComEd customers will continue to bear painfully high costs for another year, largely because of policy shortcomings from PJM. The power grid operator’s policy decisions too often favor outdated, expensive power plants and needlessly block low-cost clean energy resources and battery projects from connecting to the grid and bringing down prices. This extended price spike was preventable. It ramps up the urgency of implementing long-term reforms at PJM and comprehensive energy legislation in Illinois, such as the Clean and Reliable Grid Affordability Act, to protect customers from price spikes that serve only to give power generators windfall profits. –CUB Executive Director Sarah Moskowitz Background On Tuesday, July 22, PJM Interconnection, a “Regional Transmission Organization,” announced the results of an auction that determines the price for reserve power, or “capacity.” Capacity costs are a key component of the price Commonwealth Edison customers pay for electricity. PJM is the largest grid operator in the country, serving 67 million customers across all or parts of 13 states and the District of Columbia (including Commonwealth Edison’s 4.2 million customers). The auction (technically referred to as the “Base Residual Auction”) was held July 9-15. It set a record-high capacity price of $329.17 per Megawatt-day from June 1, 2026 through May 31, 2027. The capacity cost hit a cap negotiated by Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and is about 22 percent higher than the price that was set last year for ComEd territory and about 11 times higher than what the price was two years ago. Capacity costs are payments consumers make to power generators–the companies that own power plants–and they have a key impact on the supply price ComEd customers pay. ComEd’s price spiked on June 1 of this year because of high capacity costs, and, because of the latest auction, it will again in June of 2026. (ComEd has not yet announced what the supply price will be next June.) The 2024 capacity auction set a then-record price of about $269.92 per MW-day, about 830 percent higher than the $28.92 per MW-day capacity price set in the auction the year before. Following the price spike in the last auction, consumer and environmental advocates pushed for several changes: RMR reform: Environmental advocates successfully pushed for changes in the way PJM handles Reliability Must Run (RMR) arrangements. RMRs allow PJM to funnel extra consumer money to an otherwise retiring plant to keep it open past its closure date. Under previous PJM policy, the electric capacity of an RMR plant was NOT included in the capacity auction. Consumers thus ended up paying double: first for the price of the RMR contract, and then again because of the high capacity prices that result from not counting the RMR plant. For example, the Independent Market Monitor estimated that not including Brandon Shores and Wagner–two RMR fossil fuel plants near Baltimore, Maryland–in the last capacity auction increased the cost by as much as 40 percent. Changes made since the last […]

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CUB Q&A: Feds want to hit us with higher electric bills to prop up expensive, out-of-state power plants

Jim Chilsen — Tue, 01 Jul 2025 13:38:21 +0000

This summer, electricity prices are skyrocketing. Starting June 1, consumers started to feel the heat of poor decision-making at our regional grid operators, PJM and MISO. Unfortunately, there is more bad news: the federal Department of Energy is ordering two expensive, out-of-state power plants on the verge of retirement to stay open past their closing dates, at our expense. Why is this happening? In January, the White House declared a national energy emergency, defining “energy” as fossil fuels, biofuel, geothermal, nuclear, and hydropower — in short, everything except wind, solar, and batteries. In April, it asked the federal Department of Energy (DOE) to exercise its emergency authority to identify and prevent certain types of generation plants from retiring or converting to a new fuel source. In late May, DOE responded with two emergency orders to keep otherwise retiring plants open: J.H. Campbell Power Plant in Michigan and Eddystone Generating Station in Pennsylvania. Emergency orders are supposed to be used for real emergencies, such as a natural disaster or war. Importantly, while these emergency orders have the authority to keep the plant open, they don’t determine who pays for them. Because both plants are in the same Regional Transmission Organizations (RTOs) that serve Illinois, Illinois customers are on the hook to keep them open. Ameren customers: stuck with the J.H. Campbell Power Plant bill Campbell, owned by Consumers Energy, is a coal-fired plant with three units that came online 45 to 63 years ago (between 1962 and 1980). The plants are dirty and outdated. Back in 2022, the owners of Campbell made a settlement to stop maintenance and upgrades, with the intention of retiring it this year. In the meantime, they started buying other resources, so there wouldn’t be any power supply loss from retiring Campbell. In short, there is a clear and reliable plan to safely retire Campbell. But the DOE disagrees, and so someone has to pay to keep the plant open for (at least) an extra 90 days, to the tune of an estimated $100 million. Right now, Consumers Energy wants to spread the cost across the north and central zones of the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO). Ameren customers in Illinois are part of these MISO zones and will have to pony up to keep this dirty, decrepit plant open. ComEd customers: stuck with the Eddystone Generation Station bill Eddystone, owned by Constellation, runs on oil or gas, and its two units were built 50 years ago (1974 and 1976). Just like with Campbell, Eddystone is dirty and outdated. It rarely runs–just a few times a year. When Constellation announced its intention to retire Eddystone back in 2023, PJM found that retiring it would cause no issues with grid reliability. The North American Electric Reliability Corporation, which makes sure that all regions of the country have enough electric resources, recently said that PJM was in good shape. In short, experts agreed that Eddystone can proceed to a smooth retirement. But the DOE disagrees, and so someone has to pay to keep the plant open for (at least) an extra 90 days, to the tune of an estimated […]

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CUB Warns of June 1 Price Spike on ComEd Bills

Elizabeth — Mon, 19 May 2025 15:17:19 +0000

Commonwealth Edison’s summer price for electricity is set to increase significantly on June 1, but Illinois’ landmark energy law, the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act (CEJA), will give consumers some relief, the Citizens Utility Board (CUB) said Monday, citing filings by the utility. CUB urged ComEd to work with customers struggling to afford their bills this summer, and said the elevated price highlights the need for long-term reforms. At a news conference, CUB explained the causes of the price spike and said it has launched CUBHelpCenter.com, which has consumer tips on how to get through an expensive summer. While cautioning that pricing information could be adjusted before June 1, CUB said its preliminary review of ComEd tariffs filed Friday shows the utility’s summer supply rate, June through September, would be about 10 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh). This rate, which includes the supply price and a transmission charge, would represent about a 45 percent increase over last June’s price of 6.9¢ per kWh. The price will change again in October. CEJA will partly offset the price spike. The law requires a line item on ComEd bills called the Carbon Free Energy Resource Adjustment (CFERA) to subsidize energy generated by Illinois nuclear power plants. But consumer advocates pushed for a provision that changes the charge to a credit when energy prices go above a certain level, as in June. According to CUB’s review of ComEd tariffs, this credit will reduce ComEd’s price by about 1.7 cents per kWh, or about 17 percent, in June. While it could be adjusted up or down on a monthly basis, a credit of some amount is expected to stay on bills for at least the next 12 months. “We’re glad CEJA gives customers some relief in the short term, and in the long term we will continue to work at fixing the root causes of this price spike, mainly poor policy from PJM Interconnection, the power grid operator for northern Illinois,” CUB Executive Director Sarah Moskowitz said. “As we advocate for pro-consumer reforms at PJM and the State Capitol, we also urge ComEd to work with customers to keep them connected this summer.” CUB’s Consumers for a Better Grid campaign advocates for better PJM policies, and in Springfield the consumer group is working to pass the Clean and Reliable Grid Affordability Act (SB2473/HB3779). The bill would implement a number of pro-consumer policies, including expanding energy efficiency programs and requiring data centers to pay for their own energy costs, rather than those costs being heaped on consumers. CUB provided information about the price spike as well as consumer tips: What’s the cause? The price for reserve power—called “capacity”—has skyrocketed. While higher demand sparked by power-hungry data centers is a factor, this problem is largely because of poor policies undertaken by the regional power grid operator in ComEd territory. PJM has been slow to fix a clogged “interconnection queue”—the line of power plants, largely wind and solar generators, waiting to connect to the grid. (Read CUB’s Q&A about the capacity spike.) What part of the bill is impacted? Supply, which is the cost of the actual electricity, and […]

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CUB Q&A: Why is ComEd’s electricity price spiking?

Jim Chilsen — Fri, 09 May 2025 09:20:05 +0000

A record price spike in an electricity “capacity auction” has caused Commonwealth Edison’s electricity price to increase significantly from June 2025 through May 2026. ComEd estimates this could cost customers an extra $10.60 per month, on average, over 12 months. Read CUB’s Q&A below and visit CUBHelpCenter.com for more information. What happened? In 2024, power grid operator PJM Interconnection announced the results of its capacity auction (technically referred to as the “Base Residual Auction”). This auction is how the grid operator secures reserve power in a vast region that stretches from the Midwest to the East Coast and includes ComEd’s territory in northern Illinois. In that auction, covering the 12-month period from June 2025 through May 2026, prices for most of PJM jumped about 830 percent, from $28.92 per Megawatt-day in last year’s auction to a record $269.92 per MW-day. The prices were even higher in two eastern sections of PJM: The Baltimore Gas and Electric (BGE) zone in Maryland ($466.35 per MW-day) and in the Dominion zone in Virginia and North Carolina ($444.26 per MW-day). [Update: Since this blog was written, another capacity auction has been held to determine the capacity cost for 2026-2027. Unfortunately, the auction produced another record-high price: $329.17 per MW-day. Read CUB’s statement and our new WatchBlog article on what happened.] What exactly are capacity costs? Not only do you pay for the power you use now, but you also pay for power you could use in the future. Capacity refers to extra payments consumers give power plant operators for the commitment to have enough reserve electricity available if demand suddenly spikes. (Think of a hot summer afternoon, when everyone blasts the AC.) Normally, PJM holds annual auctions to secure capacity prices three years in advance. But PJM got off schedule years ago and July’s auction set the capacity price for the following June, only 11 months in advance. This compressed auction schedule has contributed to PJM’s problems. Where does a capacity price increase appear on my bill? An increase in capacity prices will affect the supply section of your ComEd bill. For most customers, capacity costs are buried in ComEd’s per-kilowatt-hour (kWh) supply price–it’s one component of the price, typically accounting for roughly 20 percent of supply. (The exception is if you’re a customer of ComEd’s Hourly Pricing program–which charges you a supply price that can change hourly. Hourly Pricing customers see capacity as a separate line item on bills.) How much has an increase in capacity costs increased ComEd bills? ComEd’s supply price before June 2025 was just under 7 cents per kWh. Then, it shot up to about 10.03 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh). As of October 2025, the price was about 9.689 cents per kWh, which is about 47 percent higher than last October. ComEd says the spike will increase bills by an average of $10.60 a month over the next 12 months, or 10 to 15 percent, but the actual increase could run a lot higher depending on actual usage and weather. After a summer heat wave, some customers reported triple-digit increases in their ComEd bills. Hourly Pricing customers, who have […]

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Progress: Maryland legislators pass bill that shines light on utility votes at PJM–Illinois considering similar measure

Jim Chilsen — Mon, 07 Apr 2025 20:22:25 +0000

Maryland legislators have passed a bill that requires utilities to disclose their votes at PJM Interconnection, the nation’s largest power grid operator. The same legislation has passed the Delaware Senate unanimously and is currently active in three other states–and CUB hopes to pass similar legislation in Illinois. For years CUB has been spreading the word that our electric bills are affected not just by the local utility, like ComEd, but also by power grid operators, like PJM. As a Regional Transmission Organization (RTO), PJM coordinates the movement of electricity over large transmission lines and creates the markets in which electric wholesale prices are set for 65 million people from the Midwest to the East Coast. That includes ComEd customers in northern Illinois. PJM is dominated by generators, transmission companies and electric utilities (like ComEd) that vote on power grid policies that have a huge impact on how reliable, clean and affordable our electricity is. But, amazingly, many of those votes are secret. That’s why consumer advocates across the PJM region are pushing transparency legislation. In Illinois, CUB supports House Bill 1802. The legislation would require Illinois utilities like ComEd to submit a report to state regulators revealing the votes they cast at grid operator meetings. They also would have to explain how those votes are in the public interest. This is about healthy democracy and holding utilities and grid operators accountable: Please take Action. This legislation would cover Ameren Illinois and MidAmerican Energy also. Those utilities are part of another power-grid operator called MISO, or the Midcontinent Independent System Operator. Unlike PJM, MISO considers all votes to be a matter of public record, except for the selection or removal of committee chairs and vice chairs. However, it is difficult to track down the voting information, so this bill improves access to information in MISO as well. (You shouldn’t have to be an expert to find voting data.) This idea is gaining traction. Last year, several states, including Illinois, attempted to pass similar legislation and failed. This year, at least eight states pushed it (Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia). In a sign of progress, the measure passed the Delaware Senate, and it’s about to become law in Maryland: HB 121, the Utility Transparency and Accountability Act. sponsored by Del. Lorig Charkoudian. “When utilities vote at regional transmission organizations, they have impacts on our clean energy transition and the cost of electricity,” said Rep. Joyce Mason, the chief sponsor of the Illinois bill, said when the idea was first proposed in Illinois last year. “My bill introduces better transparency for how utilities vote in our electric markets, which is part of a healthy democracy. As a legislator, my votes are public – it should be the same for utilities whose votes impact the affordability and cleanliness of our electricity. ” To learn more about our special project to hold PJM accountable, visit our Consumers for a Better Grid website. Also, watch our video and our PJM 101 presentation.

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