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By: Sarah Donaldson | Statehouse News Bureau
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COLUMBUS, Ohio (Statehouse News Bureau) — The regional power grid operator fell short in securing electric reserves, it said last week, even as the price for electricity again hit a maximum ceiling.
PJM’s 2028-2029 auction, the results of which released earlier last week, showed that electricity demand regionally is moving faster than generation, meaning electric bills in Ohio will stay high for some time.
“Today’s auction sends the wrong message,” an Ohio Consumers’ Counsel spokesperson wrote in an email. “Consumers should not have to pay record high prices and still face growing reliability concerns.”
Even at that $325 per megawatt-day price, PJM still fell short of its own reliability goal—a 20% reserve margin target—during its 2028-2029 auction. It cited data center growth as one major factor driving demand.
In June, an eleventh-hour effort to send data center regulations to Gov. Mike DeWine died. The last-minute legislation the lawmakers were considering would have created an electric rate class for the state’s data centers, a move PJM is urging states take.
The amended version of House Bill 646 is unlikely to see any substantive action before November.
And the Ohio Manufacturers’ Association is fighting that measure, arguing utilities themselves are overstating demand in their forecasts, which is causing the costs to consumers to increase.
“We’ve had all these consecutive auctions that just go sky high, customers have been losing at every single one of these, it’s time for some additional oversight.” President Ryan Augsburger said in an interview. “What is the problem, in plain English? PJM counts uncertain future demand as though it’s guaranteed.”
Sen. Mark Romanchuk (R-Ontario) and Sen. Paula Hicks-Hudson (D-Toledo) have introduced Senate Bill 457, creating more forecast oversight. It has yet to get any hearings, and faces a short window for action, since the legislative session ends in December.