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Motion of the Council of Allegheny County urging the PJM Interconnection to act with all possible speed to comply with the requirements and recommendations referenced herein in order to improve their project interconnection process for new energy generation projects.
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Whereas, the PJM Interconnection has existed in one form or another since 1927, and currently operates a wholesale electricity market and manages the reliability of its transmission grid; and
Whereas, in managing its grid, PJM centrally dispatches generation and coordinates the movement of wholesale electricity in all or part of 13 states (Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia) and the District of Columbia; and PJM’s markets include energy (day-ahead and real-time), capacity and ancillary services; and
Whereas, although PJM has made essential reforms to its interconnection process, it still has one of the longest timelines in the country for projects wanting to connect to its grid; and
Whereas, energy projects that began operating in 2025 had spent an average of 8 years sitting in the PJM queue awaiting approval to move ahead; and
Whereas, it is the judgment of Council that, as energy demand skyrockets due to the proliferation of data centers and the electrification of industries, increasing the available supply of electricity is needed more than ever; and
Whereas, the increase in energy prices resulting from this failure to add new supply has been hitting every-day residents and businesses in the PJM service territory particularly hard. This past December, Pennsylvanians saw an increase in electricity bills ranging from 3.7% for PPL customers to 10.6% for Duquesne Light customers. These increase comes on top of previous rate hikes in June 2025, and other electricity bill increases predicted to happen in the near future due to the results of PJM’s summer 2025 capacity aucti...
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