FERC and PJM Issues

OPC's August 2024 report shows how many Maryland customers face average annual electricity bill increases of hundreds of dollars in the coming years because of problems in the regional market run by PJM Interconnection, LLC, the entity that administers the wholesale power market and is responsible for transmission planning. The initial round of rate hikes is driven in part by PJM’s recent auction that saw prices beginning next June for electric generation capacity—a historically small but soon-to-be-large part of customer bills—spike by more than 800 percent.

For a full copy of the report, click here. 

For OPC's press release on the report, click here. 

For media coverage on OPC's report on rising utility rates, click here. 

Aside from increased rates from the auction results, Maryland customers face additional rate increases to pay the owner of old fossil fuel plants, Talen Energy, to delay the retirement of the plants, as well as future costs to pay Exelon—the Illinois-based owner of Baltimore Gas & Electric and other Maryland utilities—for $725 million in capital expenditures for transmission upgrades that serve as PJM’s solution for resolving reliability issues associated with the eventual power plant retirements.

Talen is seeking to recover from Maryland customers more than $629 million under what PJM calls a “reliability must run” or “RMR” arrangement to continue operating its Brandon Shores and Wagner power plants near Baltimore beyond their proposed retirement of June 1, 2025. Those costs will be incurred while Exelon completes the transmission projects—which have an estimated completion date of December 2028. The RMR costs could be higher if the transmission projects take longer to complete. PJM could also determine the plants continue to be necessary for other reasons, extending the RMR costs paid by ratepayers.

The report, prepared by Synapse Energy Economics, further reveals how PJM has constructed its market in ways that leave PJM  customers highly vulnerable to price swings and the decisions of generation companies. The analysis highlights a scenario under which the removal of the Brandon Shores and Wagner power plants, totaling about 2,000 MW, from the resources bidding into and clearing the auction—the equivalent of less than 1.5 percent of the 135,000 MW that cleared the auction—had a region-wide impact that will benefit generators (and cost customers) over $5 billion. It further explains that Talen stands to gain $360 million compared to the scenario in which its Baltimore-area plants participate in the auction.

For more FERC and PJM news:

Press release: PJM capacity market flaws extend beyond current complaint proceeding, Maryland Office of People’s Counsel tells federal regulators (10/18/2024)

Comments and Answer of Consumer Advocates regarding Sierra Club et al. v. PJM Interconnection, L.L.C., Docket No. EL24-148-000 (10/17/2024)

Press release: Immediate reforms needed to protect customers from next generation capacity market auction, consumer advocates tell PJM (8/30/2024)

Press release: Maryland customers face years of higher electricity rates from regional market problems, new OPC report shows (8/14/2024)

Press release: PJM proposal would harm consumers by giving utilities greater control over electric transmission system planning, OPC tells federal agency (7/23/2024)

Press release: OPC asks regional transmission operator to address inconsistencies and speculation in utility load forecasting (7/18/2024)

Press release: Fossil fuel plant owner failed to justify $774 million in proposed costs, federal agency says in ruling on OPC protest (6/18/2024)

Press release: Power plant owner seeks windfall from Maryland customers for continued operations, OPC tells federal agency (5/16/2024)

Press release: People’s Counsel asks federal agency to reject NRG’s bid to force customers to pay for sunk coal plant investment (4/23/2024)

Press release: Federal agency should act to protect Delmarva customers from flawed power plant auction, says Maryland People’s Counsel (4/12/2024)

Press release: Transmission operator’s proposal to apportion costs for Virginia data centers violates law, Maryland Office of People’s Counsel tells federal agency (2/12/2024)

Press release: Maryland utility customers vulnerable to regulatory gap in oversight of costly transmission projects, Office of People’s Counsel tells federal regulators (11/20/2023)

Press release: Federal agency should reject $780 million transmission proposal to address Maryland coal plant’s retirement, OPC protest asserts (9/14/2023)

Press release: People’s Counsel Urges Federal Agency to Remedy Unjust Potential Massive Rate Increase for Maryland’s Customers on the Delmarva Peninsula (1/20/2023)

Press release: Federal Agency Agrees With OPC That Delmarva Power Has Not Shown Lawfulness of Proposed Transmission Rate Increase of $13.9 Million (9/7/2022)

Press release: Federal Agency’s Proposed Transmission Planning Beneficial, But Reduced Role for Competition Could Cost Customers Billions (8/17/2022)

Press release: Siding with OPC, FERC Finds NRG Failed to Show $315 Million in Plant Costs Are Lawful (6/1/2022)

Press release: Maryland People’s Counsel Protests NRG’s FERC Request to Foist Its Power Plant Costs on Utility Customers (5/6/2022)

Press release: Proposal to Integrate Distributed Energy Resources in Regional Market Flawed, OPC Tells Federal Agency (4/1/2022)

Press release: Following OPC’s appeal to federal court, agency reverses course on regional electric market rules that would have cost consumers billions (12/28/21)

Press release: Federal Commission Agrees With OPC That Delmarva Power Failed to Show Control Center Plan Complies With Law (12/17/2021)

Press release: To Green the Electric Transmission System, Federal Regulators Should Foster Competition, Reject Anti-Competitive Utility Proposals, OPC Says (11/30/2021)

Press release: More Transparency Needed for the Millions That Customers Pay for Utility Trade Group Dues, OPC Tells Federal Agency (9/2/2021)

Press release: Federal Regulators Rule for OPC in Dispute With Regional Power Pool Over Customer Costs (8/23/2021)

Press release: Responding to OPC, Federal Agency Finds Pepco and BGE Failed to Demonstrate Proposed Rate Change Followed Law (8/4/2021)

Press release: OPC Wins Partial Victory in Federal Appeals Court, Potentially Saving Utility Customers Millions of Dollars (7/13/2021)