FERC가 PJM의 데이터센터 계획 대부분을 기각했지만, 294억 달러 규모의 비용 부담 주체를 둘러싼 문제는 여전히 미해결 상태다.

If you live in one of the 13 states or D.C. served by PJM, data centers are already on your power bill. The grid's own market monitor puts their added capacity cost at $29.4 billion over four auctions. On Friday evening, federal regulators threw out most of PJM's plan to make new data centers bring their own power or be cut off first in emergencies. Nobody has put a bill figure on Friday's ruling. Here is what it does, and what happens next.

Look at your electric bill. In June 2025, the typical PSE&G bill in New Jersey jumped $26.87 a month, and the state's regulators said why: "PJM's recent capacity auction results are the main driver of these increases" (NJ Board of Public Utilities). In June 2026 it eased by $3.23, or 1.8% before state bill credits, which still leaves it about $24 above where it started (NJBPU; ENB calculation). In Maryland, the Office of People's Counsel says BGE's summer supply price went from about 10.2 cents a kilowatt-hour last year to about 12.5 cents this year, "largely due to the capacity market impacts of data centers and projected data center growth" (Maryland OPC). For a home using 900 kWh, that is about $20.70 a month (ENB calculation).

Behind those bills sits a number from the grid's own watchdog. Monitoring Analytics, the independent market monitor for PJM, says putting data center load into the last four capacity auctions raised costs by $29.4 billion, an "irreversible" increase (IMM State of the Market). That is 46% of the $63.6 billion those four auctions cost (ENB calculation from PJM).

On Friday evening, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission threw out most of PJM's plan for handling that growth. FERC kept a registry of big new loads and rejected the parts that would have made new data centers bring their own capacity or be cut off first when the grid runs short (FERC order). Here is the plain answer for your wallet: no regulator, utility or analyst has published a bill estimate for this ruling, and ENB could not find one. The order changes no rate today. What it does is leave the bigger question, who pays for the power data centers need, wide open.

**The 60-second version**

- **What FERC did:** On Oct. 9, in Docket ER26-3515, FERC accepted PJM's definition of a "Large Load" (50 MW or more at one site) and a Large Load Registry, effective Oct. 12. It rejected everything else, including the "IRAS" curtailment plan and the "bring your own new capacity" option (FERC order).

- **The vote:** All five commissioners. No dissent. Commissioner David Rosner wrote a concurrence (FERC order).

- **Why:** FERC said parts of the plan reached retail customers and set a retail rate, which is state turf, and that PJM had not proved the rest was just and reasonable (FERC order).

- **Your bill:** No estimate exists for this ruling. Capacity prices are already at the cap, $325 a megawatt-day for 2028/29, 11 times the 2024/25 price (PJM).

- **Next:** PJM's special Members Committee meets Oct. 22 (PJM), PJM plans to refile its separate backstop power plan about Oct. 29 (Utility Dive), and the registry compliance filing is due about Nov. 9 (FERC order).

*Chart 1. Capacity costs the market monitor attributes to data center load, by delivery year. Sources: Monitoring Analytics; PJM. ENB calculations.*

**What FERC decided Friday**

PJM filed the plan on Aug. 13 (FERC order). It had three big pieces. First, a definition: any site with a combined peak of 50 megawatts or more is a Large Load, and affiliated buildings within a mile count as one site. Second, a registry so PJM can see those loads coming. Third, and most important, a new rule for data centers and other big loads arriving after June 1, 2027. If their power supplier did not line up new capacity for them, they would fall under "Interim Resource Adequacy Service," or IRAS. In plain English, they could be asked to cut their power during emergencies, before PJM calls on the customers who volunteer for demand response (FERC order).

FERC kept the first two pieces and threw out the third. The commission accepted the Large Load definition and the registry, effective Oct. 12, and told PJM to file cleaned-up tariff language within 30 days. It rejected IRAS, the requirement to designate new capacity, the "Bring Your Own New Capacity" option known as BYONC, and a change that would have left eligible new large loads out of the auction demand curve starting with 2029/30. FERC said those pieces were "an integrated package that must be viewed as a whole" (FERC order).

The order was a notational vote of all five commissioners: Chairman Laura Swett and Commissioners David Rosner, Lindsay See, Judy Chang and David LaCerte. The record shows no dissent. It was issued Friday evening (FERC eLibrary).

**Why FERC said no**

The heart of it is jurisdiction. Data centers are mostly retail customers of a local utility, and states regulate retail service. FERC wrote:

> "We find that several provisions of the proposed Tariff appear to place obligations directly on Eligible New Large Loads, which are, for the most part, retail customers; that certain other provisions appear to dictate which retail customers taking retail service will be curtailed; and that the proposed compensation framework appears to establish a retail rate." (FERC order)

The commission did not wave away the problem. "While we recognize the imminent capacity shortfall in PJM," it wrote, IRAS and BYONC "are either outside of the Commission's authority or have not been sufficiently demonstrated to be just and reasonable… We do not take this decision lightly." It added that states "have a crucial role to play in this challenge by designating which retail customers must be curtailed when the system is stressed, and we strongly encourage states to continue their important work on this issue." And it left the door open: PJM "may consider refiling an alternative proposal" (FERC order).

Rosner went further in his concurrence. He objected to cutting off new loads before the people who sign up to be paid for cutting back. "PJM's filing flips this paradigm," he wrote. He also warned of a market that says PJM has plenty of capacity "while the region sheds thousands of megawatts of demand on an involuntary basis." Then he drew a line for households:

> "To be clear, in an emergency, data centers not serving critical functions should be shut off before ordinary customers (Hint: homes, hospitals, and schools should never be curtailed before data centers)." (Commissioner David Rosner, FERC order)

The fight had some unusual teams. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro backed IRAS as a wholesale reliability product. Constellation and Google asked FERC to reject everything except the registry; the Data Center Coalition opposed IRAS and the one-mile rule. Consumer advocates wanted access to the registry data (FERC order).

**What PJM says**

PJM spokesman Jeffrey Shields told Utility Dive the grid operator is reviewing the order with "an eye toward how we can fulfill FERC's requirements while recognizing the responsibilities FERC indicated belong to the states and honoring the concept that existing electricity customers should not be unfairly burdened by new, energy-intensive customers in the form of higher costs or decreased reliability" (Utility Dive).

PJM had asked for a ruling in time to change the demand curve for its 2029/30 auction, set to run in December 2026 (FERC order). That change is now off the table. After the July auction, PJM CEO David Mills said "demand for electricity continues to grow faster than electricity supply," and that PJM "recognizes how this supply-and-demand imbalance impacts the reliability of the system and costs for consumers" (PJM).

**What it means for your power bill**

Start with what we know. Friday's order sets no price and moves no rate. No commission, utility or consumer advocate has put out a bill estimate for it, and ENB found none in the order, PJM's statements or the coverage. Anyone quoting a dollar figure for this ruling is guessing.

What the order does is remove one tool PJM hoped would keep new demand from pushing prices higher. Capacity is the money PJM pays power plants to be ready for the hottest and coldest days, and it flows into the supply part of your bill. That price went from $28.92 a megawatt-day for 2024/25 to $269.92 for 2025/26. The last three auctions cleared at or near a negotiated cap: $329.17, $333.44 and $325.00 for 2028/29 (PJM). The cap and floor, called a collar, has been extended through the 2029/30 auction (PJM).

*Chart 2. PJM RTO capacity prices by delivery year. Source: PJM 2028/2029 BRA Report.*

The July auction also came up 6,831 megawatts short of PJM's reliability requirement, after a shortfall of about 6,500 MW the year