Volts What is PJM and why is everyone so mad about it?
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Feb 20, 2026 Clara Summers, a consumer advocate leading the Citizens Utility Board’s Consumers for a Better Grid campaign, explains PJM's governance and why rising data-center demand and a clogged interconnection queue are driving prices and political heat. Conversations cover capacity markets, double-counting in load forecasts, state guardrails like large-load tariffs, curtailable connections, faster battery solutions, and paths to allocate costs fairly.
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Use A Price Collar As Short-Term Relief
- Use a temporary price collar to limit extreme auction outcomes while structural fixes are developed and implemented.
- Protect ratepayers from paying prices that can't attract supply due to interconnection constraints.
Permit Curtailable Service To Speed Connection
- Allow data centers to connect with curtailable service or require them to bring dedicated generation so speed-to-power is balanced with system reliability.
- Curtailment (the 'Texas model') is a practical tool to interconnect faster without full firm service.
Make Data Centers Pay Their Own Costs
- States should create large-load tariffs requiring hyperscalers to contract and pay for the grid capacity they cause.
- Make data centers accountable via interconnection standards and obligation to procure or finance associated capacity.