Pennsylvania families have every right to feel frustrated as their electric bills keep going up, and the explanations sound like jargon and finger-pointing. PJM. Capacity auctions. Load forecasts. Interconnection queues.
Here’s the plain-English explanation for what’s going on: the system is not delivering affordable power fast enough, and consumers are paying the price.
In recent years, leaders stepped in to protect households from the worst of PJM’s capacity auction price spikes (PJM is the grid operator that covers Pennsylvania and a dozen other states in the region). Those consumer protections mattered because they bought time, but they did not fix the underlying problem. If we treat these stopgaps as the solution, we are setting Pennsylvania businesses and residents up for the next round of painful increases.
A price cap like the one championed by Gov. Shapiro can limit damage when a market is malfunctioning. But it does not add new supply. It does not clear backlogs. It does not modernize outdated rules. It doesn’t fix fundamental structural and governance issues at the grid operator. And it does not guarantee consumer protections will survive the next round of lobbying. If PJM remains slow to connect projects that can bring down costs, and if the region continues to plan around massive new loads without fair cost allocation, then consumers will remain exposed.
The goal must be long-term solutions, not temporary restraint.
Across the PJM region, clean energy and battery storage make up the bulk of the projects awaiting connection. These resources can often be built more quickly than large fossil plants, at much lower cost than building new or re-commissioning fossil fuel plants and can help meet demand at a lower cost over time. Plus – solutions that rely on shifting the timing of load – like virtual power plants – are available right now and harness existing resources.
But PJM’s interconnection process has been too slow, too opaque, and too backlogged. When cheaper new supply can’t connect, the market tightens. When the market tightens, prices rise.
Pennsylvania is also confronting rapid demand growth from data centers and other “large loads”. That growth cannot be allowed to become a blank check billed to everyone else, nor can it be used as a reason to roll back consumer protections under the banner of “urgency.”
Fairness matters. If a new class of customers imposes major new infrastructure and capacity needs, those customers should pay a fair share of the costs. Otherwise, families and small businesses are subsidizing private growth.
If we are serious about affordability, PJM and policymakers have to move from temporary protection to structural fixes. That starts with speeding up interconnection and clearing the backlog, because lower-cost resources can’t help until they can connect. It also means modernizing market rules so they properly value storage, load flexibility, and clean capacity. Markets should reward what is reliable and cost-effective, not what is politically favored or already entrenched.
Much of PJM’s membership, who control its bylaws and hamstring its management from making change, continue to prioritize self-advancement over viable, modern solutions that save money.
PJM also needs better load forecasting and fairer cost allocation for large new loads, such as data centers. Pennsylvania should plan for demand honestly, but families should not be asked to quietly absorb costs created by the biggest new power users. And policymakers should be wary of fast-tracking “false solutions” that lock consumers into higher-cost pathways without delivering near-term relief.
The point is not to choose between reliability and affordability. Pennsylvanians need both. And we can have both. A grid that connects new resources quickly, plans for growth fairly, and values lower-cost technologies is more likely to keep the lights on without forcing households to keep paying more for the same bottlenecks.
Consumer protections in PJM’s capacity market mattered, but they were a bridge, not a destination. Pennsylvania families deserve an electricity system that is transparent, fair, and built around affordable reliability.
That means PJM must stop delaying the resources that can lower bills, and policymakers must keep the pressure on until the reforms are real, and the savings show up where they count: in the bills people pay every month.
This is a contributed opinion column. Jeaneen Zappa is executive director of the Keystone Energy Efficiency Alliance. The views expressed in this piece are those of its individual author, and should not be interpreted as reflecting the views of this publication. Do you have a perspective to share? Learn more about how we handle guest opinion submissions at themorningcall.com/opinions.