FERC Rejects Elements of PJM Backstop Procurement Plan Built to Cover a Data-Center-Driven Capacity Shortfall

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Sept. 29, 2026, rejected elements of a plan by the PJM Interconnection to hold a backstop procurement process to acquire capacity to serve data centers. The grid operator intends to acquire 6.8 GW of new capacity to make up for a shortfall from the capacity auction for the 2028/29 delivery year.

PJM failed to adequately show that its plan for allocating the costs of the auction meets the agency’s just and reasonable standard, nor did it convince regulators that it would properly assign those costs to the parties incurring them. Northern Virginia Electric Cooperative, for example, said it would have to post roughly $2 billion in collateral under the proposal, according to the decision, as reported by Utility Dive.

FERC Chairman Laura Swett said in a concurring statement: “This commission will not be forced into accepting a deeply flawed, eleventh-hour procurement mechanism with billion-dollar implications for consumers”. The order itself and its docket number were not pulled. Related canon: 2025-11-01–pjm-capacity-auction-record-data-center-40-percent-costs.