By Andrew Tubbs

The stakes couldn’t be higher. Our commonwealth is attracting unprecedented economic investment from data centers, advanced manufacturing and cutting-edge industries that will define the 21st-century economy. This growth in economic development requires more power, but the ability for supply to meet that demand faces serious questions.

PJM’s recent capacity auction results revealed a 630% increase in payments to power plant owners over two years. That’s billions of dollars flowing to generators.

Yet despite these windfall profits, new generation isn’t coming online fast enough to meet surging demand. This alarming gap threatens our economic competitiveness and reliability.

Meanwhile, this exact scenario is playing out right now amid a hotly contested gubernatorial election in New Jersey, as households have seen their electricity bills surge 22% higher in the last year.

Experts attribute this directly to supply issues that Pennsylvania is now facing. We don’t need to follow the same path. Pennsylvanians deserve better, and our state can embrace its role as an energy leader.

This isn’t about choosing markets over regulation or vice versa. Pennsylvania’s electric distribution companies have consistently supported competitive markets and continue to workwith competitive suppliers on long-term procurement strategies. Pennsylvania’s electric utilities believe in market solutions — when they work.

But we also believe in pragmatism. Even with significant new generation projects moving forward, like the Homer City generation restart, Pennsylvania needs more options, more urgency and more accountability.

Rather than merely accepting that businesses and families must face the outcomes of inaction, our commonwealth must be open to new thinking.

When power prices spike or the lights go out, customers don’t call PJM or independent power producers. They call their electric utility and elected officials. Yet under current law, utilities have an obligation to serve but no authority to ensure adequate generation to meet that obligation.

Think of it this way: It’s like a company being forced to provide a warranty on a product it didn’t build or can’t fix if it breaks.

Pennsylvania’s utilities aren’t seeking to dismantle competitive markets. They are bringing forward solutions:

• Enhanced procurement flexibility: Working with competitive suppliers on long-term contracts that could incentivize new investment.

• Backstop authority with strong oversight: Allowing utilities to seek authority to build generation only if markets fail to deliver, with mandatory Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission approval and opportunities for competitive generators to offer alternatives.

• Collaborative urgency: Recognizing that no single entity — not PJM, not generators, not utilities — can solve this alone.

These are pragmatic tools to preserve competition while creating accountability when markets fall short.

Electric utilities are being asked to meet their obligation on the hope that markets will eventually respond — or rely on solutions that materialize only when an absolute crisis hits. As in any business, sound operational practice requires planning to ensure the resources needed to fulfill our obligations are available.

“Eventually” isn’t good enough when businesses are making location decisions today and families are facing higher bills now.

Others say private generators bear construction risk, not ratepayers. But ratepayers bear enormous risks right now — potential power loss, businesses relocating to states with dependable power, job losses and diminished economic competitiveness.

The status quo appears to be, “Let the markets work.” That’s not leadership. That’s gambling with Pennsylvania’s economic future.

Pennsylvania can continue to debate whether markets or regulations are superior in theory. Or we can acknowledge that, in reality, we need flexible tools that prioritize what matters most: keeping the lights on and costs down for the people we serve.

Pennsylvania’s strength has always been pragmatism over ideology. Our energy leadership hasn’t come from adherence to any single approach or sticking to what has always been done. We look for new solutions to meet challenges as they arise. To protect families and businesses, Pennsylvania needs the flexibility to combine competitive energy markets with strategic utility backstops. That’s why we’re sounding the alarm now.

The stakes are simply too high for rigid ideology and outdated assumptions.

Andrew Tubbs is the president and CEO of the Energy Association of Pennsylvania.

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