67 million customers from the mid-Atlantic to the Midwest have seen electric bills rise repeatedly due to higher costs from regional grid operator PJM. Find out what’s gone wrong, and what’s needed to fix it
The Crisis
Repeated electricity bill hikes from grid operator PJM, and growing risk of blackouts
$16-$20/MONTH PJM BILL HIKE
PJM electricity capacity costs skyrocketed up $12.5 billion
ANOTHER PJM BILL HIKE
PJM capacity costs rose another $1.4 billion — which would have been worse without price caps
HIGH COSTS EXPECTED AGAIN
Capacity costs are projected to hit price caps again
MAJOR BILL HIKES LOOM
Capacity costs could hit $30 billion (without price caps)
WHAT’S GONE WRONG
Years of PJM inaction, data center demand, and power plant owner influence
Massive data center demand
Data centers use enormous amounts of electricity — sometimes the equivalent of an entire city. The massive spike in demand from proposed AI data centers has sent prices in the grid operator’s electricity capacity market through the roof. Data center demand added into PJM’s last three capacity auctions cost customers $21.3 billion — which is 45% of the total regional capacity bill.
Lack of new energy supply
PJM has been poor at adding new energy resources and planning the grid upgrades to connect them. Year after year, the PJM region has brought on far less new generation relative to demand than other grids around the country — up to six times less every year.
The profits and clout of power plant owners
With high market prices and little new supply getting built, the fleet of current power plants are getting paid billions more without providing anything more in service. These companies enjoy huge influence inside PJM, while the 67 million electricity consumers in the PJM region have just 1.4% of the voter representation in PJM proceedings.
WHAT’S NEEDED NOW
States and PJM must enact solutions that will actually cut costs and strengthen reliability
LOOKING FOR MORE INFO?
Contact info@forabettergrid.org and check out these additional resources.
Interconnection
PJM’s Speed to Power Problem, and How to Fix It
Interconnection
Reopening is Not Enough: Why PJM’s Interconnection Queue Still Needs Real Reform
Data Centers
CUB and NRDC: Fact Sheet on PJM Data Center Capacity Costs
Data Centers
CUB: How data centers are raising our bills in Illinois — and what we should do about it
Data Centers
A State Playbook for Managing Data Center-Driven Load Growth — Johns Hopkins University
Surplus Interconnection
Surplus Interconnection: A Tool to Immediately Deploy New Electricity Supply to Enhance Grid Reliability and Affordability
Surplus Interconnection
ReSISting a Resource Shortfall: Fixing PJM’s Surplus Interconnection Service (SIS) to Enable Battery Storage
Batteries
Lessons for PJM from Summer 2025 in Texas
Governance
States Newsroom: State lawmakers want to peel back the curtain at the nation’s biggest electrical grid operator