Several state consumer advocates filed a complaint at FERC alleging PJM’s capacity market is failing to mitigate market power, overestimating future load and producing high clearing prices that generation owners cannot act on. 

Panels during the OPSI Annual Meeting discussed the 2025/26 capacity auction yielding an eightfold jump in prices, as well as possible changes to the subsequent auction.

Generation owners say the increase in PJM capacity prices is the signal they need to invest in new development, while consumer advocates say the backlogged interconnection queue could limit the ability for market participants to react.

The PJM MRC endorsed one of two proposals to revise how the RTO uses reserve resources, approving a deployment scheme where instructions are sent by basepoints, while rejecting a parallel proposal to grant operators the ability to dynamically increase market procurements.

Legislators in five states in PJM have filed similar bills that would require regulated utilities to submit all of their stakeholder votes publicly with state regulators.

The PJM Markets and Reliability Committee overrode concerns from Illinois consumer advocates and regulators to create a fifth cost of new entry area for the Commonwealth Edison region.

The Illinois Commerce Commission questioned MISO and PJM officials on their respective RTOs’ preparations for summer, with some concerned about reliability.

PJM stakeholders rejected a proposal from the Illinois CUB to require that at least one member of the Board of Managers have clean energy qualifications.

PJM members said they want more time to consider a proposal to require the board to include “expertise in the transition to zero-carbon energy resources.”