PJM Pushes Data Center Power Costs Back Onto The States

✓What's documented Names the receipt: PJM's own filings with FERC and its board-approved multipart proposal, reported against months of pressure from state governors and the Trump administration.

PJM Interconnection is filing a multipart plan with FERC that pays up to $20 billion for new power plants to serve data centers built through 2027, while pushing data centers built after 2027 to secure their own power or risk being cut off during grid emergencies. The plan hands responsibility for enforcing who pays back to individual states and their utilities rather than PJM taking direct action, which is exactly the cost-allocation question at the center of the ratepayer fight.

• PJM's board sent proposals to FERC covering the 13-state, 67-million-person PJM footprint from Virginia to Illinois.
• First part of the plan pays up to $20 billion for new power plants to serve data center load already built or under construction through 2027.
• Second part, filed August 7, pushes post-2027 data centers to bring their own generation or face potential power cutoffs during grid emergencies.
• PJM also proposed a registry to track large-load location and usage, and projects large-load demand could reach 70 GW across its territory by 2038.
• The plan effectively delegates enforcement of cost responsibility to state regulators and utilities rather than PJM itself.