Residents and businesses across Pennsylvania may begin to see the rates they pay for electricity starting to rise. That’s because of shrinking power supply and rising electricity demand on the grid that serves our commonwealth and several other states.
Here’s what you need to know:
PJM is the operator of a regional electrical grid that serves 13 states, including Pennsylvania, and the District of Columbia. It is the largest grid operator in the country. The most recent PJM capacity auction for energy production resulted in prices that were nearly 10 times the previous year, with results attributed largely to shrinking power supply and rising electricity demand. Even though Pennsylvania is the largest exporter of generated electricity among PJM member states, customers here are still going to pay more for their electricity because of these grid constraints.
“Acting as a neutral, independent party, PJM operates a competitive wholesale electricity market and manages the high-voltage electricity grid to ensure reliability for more than 65 million people.”
The PJM Capacity Challenge: Implications for Pennsylvania Boroughs and Municipalities (PDF)
WHAT ARE THEY DOING?
Old, dirty power plants are being retired more quickly than PJM has been able to connect new generation capacity to the grid. The permitting process for new gas-fired plants is complicated and drawn out, and they have been unable to connect existing wind and solar power capacity, which could be further supplemented with batteries, to the grid.PJM has the biggest backlog of new projects awaiting connection to the grid in the country.
Energy demands have significantly increased, but the capacity to handle this need of energy hasn’t. As a result, electric bills for all customers will increase.
PJM has temporarily delayed plans to raise prices further so that they can work with governmental regulators to try and fix the issues leading to these backlogs and supply constraints.
WHAT CAN I DO?
Contact your legislators and Governor Shapiro today and tell them it’s time to fix these problems and bring electric prices down for PA families.
To learn more, visit papublicpower.org/ratehikes
