This morning at 10:30 a.m., DC Councilmember Charles Allen, Chair of the Council’s Committee on Transportation and the Environment, will join a bipartisan group of state legislators to announce the “Protecting Ratepayers Proposal,” calling on PJM to require data centers to reduce their true cost to a grid, impacting millions of residents and businesses.

The combined impact of the increased demand of data centers and slow additions of new supplies of power to the grid has put millions of households on a path to see their monthly power bills increase by as much as $70 a month by 2028. The PJM grid provides power to 67 million homes across 13 states and the District of Columbia.

The press conference will be held virtually, given the wide geographic range of leaders coming together to demand the largest regional electric grid in the United States take definitive steps to address spiraling monthly bills – PJM has the highest increases of any regional grid operator in the nation.

• What: Virtual Press Conference. Members of the press interested in attending can RSVP here until 10 am today.
• When: 10:30 am today, Monday, Nov. 17
• Councilmember Allen’s view:
  

"Data centers aren’t the only cause of spiking electric rates for DC residents, but they are overwhelming our grid. Having them pay their fair share will be a step in the right direction. At its core, this is a supply and demand issue where data centers are driving up demand while PJM hasn’t acted with the same urgency as other regional grid operators have to add more supply from renewables and batteries. As a result, our region and our residents are being hit with some of the biggest rate increases in the country. As a start, I urge the PJM Board to take a step in the right direction to begin by requiring these large data centers, owned by very large and valuable corporations, to pay the true cost of their impact on the grid and in doing so, provide some relief to residents and local businesses.”

Background:

PJM is the electrical grid operator for Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia. On November 19, the PJM Board of Directors will decide how to manage the connection of power-hungry data centers to the regional grid. If the costs of meeting data center demand are spread across the ratepayer base, electricity bills could rise by $163 billion across the region, averaging approximately $70/month for the average household.

The Bipartisan PJM State Legislators Collaborative is an informal, bipartisan group of state legislators from across the PJM Interconnection region. The members are united by the common goal of ensuring affordable, reliable energy for their 67 million constituents and advocating for state interests in regional and federal energy policy decisions.