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Yesterday, the nation’s largest grid operator PJM held its capacity auction for the 2028/2029 Delivery Year. The auction ended when prices reached the price cap, signaling more costly energy bills for everyday Americans who have been paying soaring energy prices for years due to PJM’s poor planning and projected energy demand from data centers.
The final price marks continued record-breaking high electricity costs for the region. Back in April 2026, a coalition of state governors in PJM successfully negotiated a price ceiling for the next two years of capacity auctions. Even with this ceiling in place, PJM’s 67 million customers are paying more. Since June 2025, an independent analysis estimates that annual customer costs in PJM have increased $12.5 billion, skyrocketing from $2.2 billion in 2024 to $14.7 billion the following year.
The energy generation procured during this auction also disproportionately represents expensive, polluting fossil fuels. Rather than relying on affordable, reliable clean energy, 64 percent of generation for the 2028/2029 year will be met with fossil generation (46 percent with gas, and 18 percent with coal).
