PJM Capacity Auction Once Again Delivers Sky-High Prices

Contact: Miles Cunning

Today, PJM Interconnection released the capacity auction results for the 2028-2029 delivery year, extending a streak of record-high prices and exposing the grid operator’s ongoing failures to deliver cheap, clean energy and maintain a reliable grid for its customers. The clearing price once again hit the price cap, $325 per megawatt-day, and PJM failed to secure the capacity required to ensure reliability in the delivery year.

In response, Evergreen Director of Strategic Initiatives for the States Program Julia Kortrey released the following statement:

“Today, PJM delivered more bad news for people already struggling with higher energy bills: Prices will continue at the maximum level allowed under the law. This was entirely avoidable. PJM continues to slow-walk cheap, clean energy that could lower bills for working families while protecting a system that delivers record profits for member utilities, rather than fixing its problems.

“After taking nearly four years to reopen the interconnection queue and process the backlog of cheap and clean energy projects, PJM has still failed to secure enough power to ensure reliability on the hottest and coldest days of the year. During this stretch of record-setting heat across the country, customers are left paying record prices for a less reliable grid.

“PJM continues to allow the same utility and fossil fuel companies to cash in while families get stuck with the bill. We’ll be watching PJM’s upcoming FERC filings on its reliability backstop and connect and manage proposals closely. They need to actually protect consumers from the costs of data center growth, not just paper over them.”

###