Maryland lawmakers press electric grid operator on skyrocketing bills

Gov. Wes Moore and Maryland lawmakers are pushing PJM Interconnection, the region’s grid operator, to address skyrocketing electric bills as the organization holds its annual meeting in Baltimore this week.

Electric bills have increased for all 67 million people in PJM’s region, which includes 13 states and Washington, D.C. Marylanders’ bills have risen by nearly 30% since 2021, according to an analysis of data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

That sometimes forces customers to choose between their utility bills and other expenses, including life-sustaining oxygen, and has led to record-high requests for bill assistance in recent years.

Speaking outside Baltimore Marriott Waterfront, where PJM’s meeting is being held, Moore said Monday that the organization should reform its processes to protect ratepayers. For example, he said the grid operator should develop 15-year price certainty for customers.

“We want to work closely to be able to address these issues, but what we shouldn’t have to do is the job of PJM for PJM,” he said. “There’s no clear plan by PJM to address both affordability and reliability.”

Moore and governors of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and other states sent a letter to the PJM Board of Managers last year urging them to lower the price cap for the 2026-27 capacity market auction.

In January, the governors and the White House’s National Energy Dominance Council secured a lower price through 2030, keeping supply costs from rising even further.

PJM “recognizes the pressure many families and businesses are feeling about rising electricity costs across the region,” spokesperson Jeff Shields said in an email. It is “a generational challenge that no one organization, state or industry can solve alone.”

Moore also said it is taking far too long for PJM to approve requests from new power generators to connect to the regional power grid.

PJM has made some progress with its backlog, announcing last month that more than 800 new energy generation projects have applied to move through its reformed interconnection process. It’s unclear how many of those projects will be in Maryland, but most involve energy storage or natural gas.

The grid operator previously announced 51 chosen projects that are expected to come online by 2031. One proposal included upgrades to a natural gas plant in Prince George’s County, and another was a 500-megawatt utility battery project in Harford County.

The growing data center industry has been at the center of debate nationwide for its role in dramatically increasing electricity demand in the coming years.

Data centers are “the single largest driver of capacity price increases” and should pay for their own supply and transmission line upgrades, Moore said. President Donald Trump has also made that demand.

Pennsylvania-based PJM is regulated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and has about 1,129 members — most of whom are utility companies and owners of power generators.

State lawmakers and ratepayer advocates have a “relatively small voice at the table,” said Rebecca Rehr, director of climate policy and justice for the Maryland League of Conservation Voters.

In an effort to be heard, some Maryland, Pennsylvania and New Jersey lawmakers and area climate and energy affordability advocates held Monday’s press event outside PJM’s conference. PJM last held its annual meeting in Baltimore in 2024.

Maryland state Sens. Katie Fry-Hester and Shelly Hettleman and Montgomery County Del. Lorig Charkoudian, all Democrats, called for more clean energy and demanded that the PJM board “protect the public” from increased costs and reliability risks.

Fry-Hester assembled a multistate, bipartisan coalition of state lawmakers last year when PJM was weighing how to address reliability and cost impacts from data centers.

The coalition is now demanding that large-load customers, such as data centers, bring their own supply and operate flexibly to avoid spikes during peak times.

Charkoudian said she and others believe the capacity market auction is “biased” in favor of fossil fuels and fails to adequately consider ratepayers. Allowing more clean energy options on the grid could save ratepayers an estimated $500 a year, according to a study by research firm Synapse Energy Economics.