Consumers for a Better Grid Archives | Citizens Utility Board

Consumers for a Better Grid’s 2025 Year In Review

Elizabeth — Wed, 17 Dec 2025 19:13:49 +0000

It’s time for another annual reflection from CUB’s Consumers for a Better Grid Campaign. With millions of customers dealing with electricity price spikes, 2025 was a busy year advocating for consumers at PJM Interconnection and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). As part of that mission, the campaign held four media briefings, presented at or attended eight conferences, intervened in at least 10 legal cases, and was quoted by at least 25 different media outlets. Here’s more detail on what we tackled this year… Consumer education Many people have never heard of PJM Interconnection, but it manages the nation’s largest power grid–from northern Illinois all the way to the East Coast–and it has a major impact on electric reliability and affordability for 67 million customers across the country. So educating consumers about PJM is important. More and more grassroots groups and organizations across the PJM region have been reaching out for information and ways to engage with everyday consumers about this issue. To respond to this surge in interest, we recorded our PJM 101 briefing, which to date has over 1,000 views! In order to help make PJM material more accessible, Karen Tolentino, the Clean Energy Outreach and Communications Coordinator for CUB Español, re-recorded the video in Spanish. Legislative victories After years of effort, Maryland was the first state to pass a bill requiring utilities to report the votes they take at PJM–and Delaware and New Jersey soon followed. Campaign Manager Clara Summers has testified on the bill for the last two years—it was exciting to see it pass! Hopefully we’ll see more states pass this pro-consumer legislation. In Illinois, the CUB team was instrumental in passing the Clean and Reliable Grid Affordability Act. This sweeping energy legislation will help counteract high prices from PJM by bringing more batteries online and promoting energy efficiency, among other strong provisions. Litigation We intervened in at least 10 legal dockets at FERC, the Department of Energy, and in the courts on issues ranging from capacity market management, improving transmission planning, and protecting the ability of FERC to impose penalties on bad actors. There were a number of topics we worked on this year, but here are some of the biggest… Decoding the broken capacity market—past, present, and future Past and present: If you were plugged in last summer, you may remember that PJM’s capacity market produced record-high prices that would start to hit in June of this year. We worked to ensure consumers were prepared for the upcoming price spike (if you need more information and tips about spiking power prices, please visit our Help Center). In two Facebook Lives, Clara and Annie Warnock, Bilingual Consumer Rights Specialist, gave out important consumer information about the price spikes at the beginning and end of the summer. Future: Unfortunately, high prices will continue for several years. In July, the results of the 2026-27 capacity auction were announced–and once again the auction resulted in a record-high price. Clara was ready to break it down for the public, and Sarah talked through the results on WBEZ. In our statement, we wrote, “While we are relieved that the […]

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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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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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Statement: CUB Joins Other Consumer Advocates in Challenging Federally Mandated Rate Hike to Keep ‘Zombie Power Plant’ Open

Elizabeth — Mon, 30 Jun 2025 21:24:20 +0000

The following is a statement by Clara Summers, manager of the Citizens Utility Board’s Consumers for a Better Grid campaign, on a federal order to keep the Eddystone Generating Station, a power plant in Pennsylvania, open. The move could needlessly cost customers across the country, including Commonwealth Edison (ComEd) customers in Illinois, millions of dollars in higher electric bills. In a summer when Illinois electricity customers are already paying higher power bills, a new Department of Energy (DOE) order will unnecessarily add to our pain, and that’s why we are challenging it. The DOE’s maneuver is not about reliability–this is a handout to the fossil fuel industry, paid for by consumers across the region, including Illinois. PJM has already concluded that there are adequate resources for this summer, but the DOE has manufactured an emergency to prop up an outdated power plant that should already be shuttered. The DOE just made a bad situation even worse, and Illinois consumers will pay the price. In challenging the DOE order, CUB and other consumer advocates argue that keeping this “zombie power plant” open is not only costly for consumers, but it’s also illegal, a violation of the Federal Power Act. Background: Consumer advocates, including the Citizens Utility Board (CUB) of Illinois and Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul’s office, are challenging a U.S. Department of Energy 202(c) order that has kept an aging oil and gas plant in Eddystone, Pennsylvania open this summer past its close date–at extra cost to consumers. Consumer advocates initially estimate that keeping the Eddystone Generating Station open 90 days past its expected close date will cost consumers across the PJM region around $5.1 million. If the 90-day order is extended–as expected–it will cost more. The operating units at Eddystone run on oil or gas and were built around 50 years ago (1974 and 1976). They were slated to be closed on May 31, before the DOE issued its order mandating PJM Interconnection, the power grid operator, and Constellation, the owner of the plant, to keep them open for another 90 days. The DOE vaguely cited an “emergency situation” regarding reliability. However, the challenge, filed on June 27 by the Maryland Office of People’s Counsel (OPC) and a coalition of consumer advocates, argues that no emergency justified the Department’s order and requests a rehearing on the matter. The DOE has 30 days to respond to the request, after which parties can challenge the order in court. Joining in support of the OPC filing were CUB, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul’s office, the Delaware Division of the Public Advocate and the New Jersey Division of Rate Counsel. The DOE’s May 30 order on Eddystone followed a similar order a week earlier to the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) mandating that the coal-fired J.H. Campbell Power Plant in West Olive, Michigan remain open for 90-days at an estimated cost of $100 million. Consumer and environmental advocates, including CUB, are also challenging that order.

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Consumers for a Better Grid: 2024 Year In Review

Jim Chilsen — Tue, 10 Dec 2024 16:39:53 +0000

Well, we’ve made it to the end of 2024. As we take a breath to gather ourselves for the coming year, it’s good to reflect on all we’ve accomplished in the past year and chart a course for all that remains to be done. CUB, through its Consumers for a Better Grid campaign, has been working diligently on behalf of Illinois consumers at the power-grid operator PJM Interconnection and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). A few highlights from the past year … January: We started the year by organizing consumer advocates across the two Regional Transmission Organizations (RTOs) that manage the power grids in Illinois, MISO and PJM, to call for better interregional transmission planning. We have a special interest in ensuring that planning between the two regions is done efficiently, because proactively planning interregional transmission can lower costs and improve reliability in Illinois (especially in the face of extreme weather). Learn more about transmission: Who pays for transmission lines? Take a look at your power bill February: State legislators in Illinois, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia announced a shared effort to bring better transparency to PJM. CUB’s Clara Summers testified in front of the Maryland state legislature in support of the bill. March: The Chicago Tribune shined a light on PJM’s broken interconnection queue process. “(PJM) has unnecessarily set our transition to cleaner energy back by years,” said Clara Summers, the Consumers for a Better Grid campaign manager at CUB. April: CUB’s Clara Summers was invited to speak on a panel at the National Environmental Justice Conference and Training Program. The decisions made at RTOs impact the affordability, reliability, and cleanliness of our electricity. Environmental justice communities feel these issues most acutely, as they often deal with energy burden, frequent power outages and power plant pollution. But getting access to RTOs is very difficult for the public. Consumers for a Better Grid is working to change that. May: CUB Executive Director Sarah Moskowitz and Campaign Manager Clara Summers attended PJM’s Annual Meeting in Baltimore. At the meeting, Clara presented to the PJM Board about needed improvements to the decision-making process. We also joined other consumer advocates in filing formal comments to FERC, agreeing with proposed rules barring generators from forcing consumers to pay for reliability standards the generators are required to meet. June: CUB joined environmental organizations in filing a protest with FERC, asking that the federal agency require PJM to comply with Order 2023 by streamlining the interconnection process and modernizing the grid. “PJM is dragging its feet on the clean energy transition and doing everything it can, instead, to create exceptions for itself,” we told the Chicago Tribune. July: This was a banner month for us. In the space of a few weeks, we joined a protest filed with FERC advocating for fair treatment of energy efficiency in the market. We also filed a protest opposing anti-consumer changes to PJM’s Consolidated Transmission Owners Agreement, with legal support from Earthjustice. Finally, a proposal that we co-sponsored with Maryland advocates passed a PJM stakeholder vote with resounding support. (The vote begins a discussion on how to design and […]

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PJM’s gas track: what gives?

Jim Chilsen — Fri, 08 Nov 2024 19:16:17 +0000

By Clara Summers, Campaign Manager Consumers for a Better Grid (a project of CUB) The nation’s largest power grid operator says it’s “fuel neutral” when considering energy resources, so why does PJM Interconnection appear to be showing so much love for dirty gas at the expense of wind and solar projects? As we’ve detailed elsewhere, PJM has gotten us into a mess. High capacity prices, which the grid operator calls a success, will hit consumers in June. Yet we won’t see any benefit, as we won’t be able to get new generation online for years because of the interconnection queue backlog. All of these issues were foreseeable and preventable, and there are some basic fixes that PJM could pursue to help clean up this mess. The most basic (and we can’t believe we have to say this), is for PJM to comply with FERC Order 2023. This is a federal rule to improve and speed the process of connecting to the grid. That Order came out last year, but PJM is still asking for exceptions to the rule, so it can continue taking longer than every other grid operator to get new generation online. So while PJM has been talking out of one side of its mouth saying that it’s concerned about not getting new resources online, out of the other side it is arguing for special treatment to slow-walk interconnection. What gives? Instead of complying with Order 2023, PJM has unveiled a special, “one-time” fast-track interconnection process, called the Reliability Resource Initiative, that bypasses the existing interconnection queue. PJM’s proposal would let new resources cut in line and be considered along with projects that have already been waiting—for years—for PJM to get around to studying their connection to the grid. Make no mistake: The RRI proposal is more about picking and choosing resource types than it is about getting new resources online quickly. The grid operator has recently made multiple public statements favoring gas: “lt has become very clear that our region will require the buildout of a significant quantity of new generation, including a material amount of natural gas…” PJM said in a recent letter responding to consumer advocates concerned about the price spike. There are many, many megawatts of mostly wind and solar generation waiting to connect in PJM. Other grid regions, like SPP and MISO (see map), manage much larger amounts of wind and solar and are now reaping the reliability benefits. But PJM has balked at the clean energy transition, citing concern at the “operating characteristics” of such resources. This behavior is extremely confusing, given that PJM’s own analysis has said that it could manage a grid that was over 90% carbon-free. In some versions of the RRI proposal, PJM has explicitly (and inappropriately) excluded wind and solar. Bringing more resources online will help bring prices down. The best way to do that would be to fully implement Order 2023 and fix the remaining problems with the interconnection process as a whole. If PJM pursues something like the RRI, it needs to adhere to the following key principles: Principle 1: Show us your work PJM […]

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PJM broke the capacity auction–but here’s how they can fix it

Elizabeth — Wed, 06 Nov 2024 22:28:26 +0000

By Clara Summers, Campaign Manager Consumers for a Better Grid (a project of CUB) The electricity price for Illinois’ largest power utility, Commonwealth Edison, will go up significantly next summer because of a recent auction to secure reserve power. Grid operator PJM announced that its recent “capacity” auction sent prices skyrocketing from $28.92 per Megawatt-day to a record $269.92 per MW-day. Such capacity costs make up a portion of the price of electricity, so this is expected to cause ComEd bills to increase starting in June of 2025. Why are the prices so high? The Market Monitor for PJM said “the [] prices do not solely reflect supply and demand fundamentals but also reflect, in significant part, PJM decisions about the definition of supply and demand[.]” But if supply and demand weren’t to blame, what was? Well, it’s complicated: There are multiple root causes–and each demonstrates a different failure of PJM leadership. But just as the causes are in PJM’s hands, so are the solutions… Root Cause 1: A Perfect Storm of Interconnection and Auction Delays PJM’s capacity market is supposed to operate under a “three-year forward” mechanism. That means PJM holds auctions to buy reserve electricity three years in advance of when it’s needed. So when lower supply sparks higher auction prices, generators will then have ample time (three years) to respond to that signal and build new power plants. Unfortunately, 2018 was the last time PJM held a three-year forward auction. Today, auctions happen on a drastically compressed schedule. For example, PJM’s July auction secured reserve power for just 11 months into the future, June 2025–not enough time for new generating resources to build and connect to the grid. That would be true even if PJM were quick to get resources online–but it’s not, and that’s the other problem. PJM is infamous for having one of the nation’s slowest interconnection queues. The “queue” is the waitlist for new electric resources seeking review and approval by PJM so they can be connected to the grid. Unfortunately, there are more renewable resources waiting in line than all of the resources currently powering PJM’s vast 13-state region. As it processes this massive backlog, PJM isn’t renewing any new interconnection applications until 2026, at the earliest. Some projects have sat in the queue for so long (5 or more years) that they have lost financing or site permissions, and so they drop out of the process before PJM even reviews them. In this frustrating situation–with a key part of the clean energy transition on hold–everyday electric customers will pay for higher capacity prices on their electric bills without getting any benefit for those payments. High prices + failure to get resources online quickly = bad news for ratepayers. What does PJM need to do? Get back on schedule and bring more generation online. First, PJM should fully comply with FERC Order 2023, which laid out new standards for interconnection processing. PJM has been foot-dragging on compliance, asking for exceptions to a number of these standards, including realistic treatment of battery storage, a technology that could be a huge help in easing these […]

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Fighting for your rights at the nation’s largest power grid

Elizabeth — Thu, 14 Mar 2024 16:08:19 +0000

Our electric bills are affected not just by a local utility, like ComEd or Ameren Illinois, but also by large power grid operators with funny names like “PJM” and “MISO.” That’s why CUB launched a campaign called Consumers for a Better Grid. The campaign’s mission is to hold grid operators, also called Regional Transmission Organizations, or RTOs, “accountable to consumers, states and a clean, affordable energy future.” RTOs manage the flow of electricity over transmission lines–the complex network of high-voltage power lines that carry energy long distances from power plants, across states and regions, and eventually to local distribution systems that serve our homes. RTOs also manage wholesale electricity markets, including running auctions that set prices for reserve energy, called “capacity.” Illinois is served by two RTOs: the PJM Interconnection and the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO). “Even though many people have not heard of these RTOs, the policies they set have a significant impact on how clean, reliable and affordable our electricity is,” said Clara Summers, manager of the Consumers for a Better Grid campaign. “Transmission is the fastest growing portion of our electric bills,” she said. “We need more transmission, but it needs to be well-planned. The better RTOs plan, the more efficient and cost-effective our transmission system will be. Right now, RTOs are making decisions that are driving up costs, slowing our climate progress, or potentially reducing electric reliability. That’s why we need to care about them.” But often the decisions RTOs make are unknown to the public, and in PJM’s case, the process is shrouded in mystery. PJM is the largest grid operator in the country, covering 65 million electric customers from ComEd territory in northern Illinois all the way to the East Coast. Managing the grid is an essential service–PJM has the power of a government. But it’s run like a private corporation, with board meetings behind closed doors. While consumer advocates do get to vote on PJM policies, voting on policies is dominated by big electricity generators, transmission companies and electric utilities, such as ComEd–and many of those votes are secret. (CUB is trying to change that–read about our campaign for HB 4747.) “I first heard about PJM because its policies were preventing states from meeting their clean energy requirements,” Clara said. “States should be able to implement clean, affordable energy laws without being undermined by a grid operator.” Clara, who grew up on a rural island in Washington state where it wasn’t unusual for the power to go out, has a long track record of fighting the good fight. Her resume includes a year in Indonesia as a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant, as well as stints with Interfaith Power & Light, a group that works with faith communities to take climate action, the environmental law nonprofit Earthjustice and the National Caucus of Environmental Legislators. When not deep in the weeds of energy policy, she enjoys Irish dance, hammered dulcimer–and she also fosters sometimes cantankerous kittens. “If you had asked me a few years ago whether I cared about transmission, I would have given you a blank stare,” Clara said. “It really hadn’t come […]

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Illinois Legislators Join the Push for Greater Grid Transparency with HB4747

Elizabeth — Tue, 06 Feb 2024 17:52:58 +0000

Legislators from five states are joining together to introduce legislation to increase the transparency of electric utilities’ involvement in PJM, the Regional Transmission Organization (RTO). PJM manages the power grid over 13 states and the District of Columbia, from the Midwest to the East Coast. The legislators are from Illinois, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia. (Note: Take action on the Illinois legislation.) The decisions made by PJM impact clean energy and the cost of electricity. These decisions can help or hinder state policies. This makes coordination with RTOs and oversight of utility participation by states crucial. States have the authority to regulate utilities to ensure they are acting in the public’s best interest. Right now, utilities are voting in private on rules at PJM that have an impact on rates and the transition to clean energy. Legislators in these five states are calling for these votes to be public so there is greater oversight and accountability on utilities and PJM for the decisions being made. Illinois Rep. Joyce Mason and Pennsylvania Rep. Chris Rabb are each sponsoring PJM transparency legislation this session in their own states. “When utilities vote at regional transmission organizations, they have impacts on our clean energy transition and the cost of electricity,” said Rep. Mason. “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. ” “The regional transmission organization that manages our energy grid in Pennsylvania impacts our transition to clean energy and our monthly electric bills,” said Rep. Rabb. “And the utilities across our state and region come to meet and vote in private. This is not acceptable. These corporations’ votes are no less important and influential than mine as a legislator. So, if all my votes are public, theirs should be, too!” Mason, Rabb and legislators from Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia have sponsored legislation requiring each utility to submit a report to their respective state Public Service Commissions (such as the Illinois Commerce Commission) regarding votes cast in any PJM meeting in the prior calendar year and a brief description for how that vote was in the public interest. “This is an important transparency bill,” said Delegate Rip Sullivan of Virginia. “The decisions made by PJM have enormous impact on Virginia’s transition to clean energy. It wasn’t long ago that subcommittee votes in the General Assembly were unrecorded and essentially secret. We changed that for obvious reasons. When it comes to our clean energy transition and the cost of electricity, it is vital that regulators, the General Assembly, and most importantly Virginia’s ratepayers have better insight into the decisions PJM and our utilities make.” Last year, Maryland Delegate Lorig Charkoudian introduced a similar bill that passed the House. The West Virginia Public Service Commission also filed complaints regarding transparency over PJM meetings and decision-making. Delegate Charkoudian is reintroducing her bill (HB0505) again this year. “My colleagues and I, across the PJM region, know that decisions made […]

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