Press & data · original analysis
The PJM capacity cost, utility by utility
Last updated: · Download the data (CSV) · Free to republish with credit
PJM's record capacity auctions are pulling roughly $1.98 billion a year out of households across the 6 utilities below. Most coverage cites PJM's own "1.5% to 5%" bill-impact range; nobody publishes the per-utility dollar figure. We computed it from each state commission's own orders and federal customer counts — and we update this page within 24 hours of each new auction result.
The auction sequence that caused it
| Delivery year | Auction held | Clearing price ($/MW-day) | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024/2025 | 2022 | $28.92 | the baseline before the spike |
| 2025/2026 | July 2024 | $269.92 | a record at the time — roughly a 9–10× jump |
| 2026/2027 | July 2025 | $329.17 | cleared at the FERC-approved price cap — highest in PJM history |
Source: PJM Interconnection — 2026/2027 Base Residual Auction results (July 2025). The 2026/27 auction cleared at the FERC-approved price cap — it would have gone higher otherwise.
What it costs, per utility
Each utility's reported monthly residential supply increase × 12 × its residential customer count. An aggregate across the customer base (ESTIMATE, methodology below) — not an individual bill figure.
| Utility | State | Increase / mo | Residential customers | Aggregate / year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSE&G | New Jersey | $26.87 | 2.1M | $663M |
| ComEd | Illinois | $10.60 | 3.7M | $470M |
| Dominion Energy Virginia | Virginia | $10.92 | 2.4M | $312M |
| Jersey Central Power & Light (JCP&L) | New Jersey | $22.67 | 1.0M | $282M |
| Atlantic City Electric | New Jersey | $28.02 | 506K | $170M |
| Pepco (D.C.) | Washington, D.C. | $20.81 | 319K | $80M |
| Total across these utilities | $1.98B/yr | |||
Per-utility monthly increases come from each state commission's orders — every figure links to its source in the CSV and on each utility's rate-increase page.
Methodology & caveats
- Formula: (monthly residential supply increase, from the state commission's order) × 12 × (residential customer count, U.S. EIA Form 861).
- What it is: an aggregate estimate of the dollars moved onto each utility's residential customer base by the 2025–26 capacity-driven supply increases.
- What it is NOT: an individual bill impact (that's the $/mo column), a precise accounting (rates reset on different schedules), or utility profit — default supply is a pass-through. This lands on the supply (generation) part of your bill, which on a default/standard rate is a pass-through — your utility buys the power and bills it through with no markup. The utility's own profit lives in the separate delivery (distribution) charge, set in a rate case.
- Coverage: only utilities with a commission-stated monthly dollar impact are included, so the true regional total is higher than the sum shown.
- Sources: state utility-commission orders (linked per utility), U.S. EIA-861, and PJM auction results.
For journalists
Republish freely with credit. The table, chart, and CSV on this page are free to republish or adapt with credit to "RateWatchdog" and a link to this page. The underlying figures are public-domain government data; our compilation is CC BY 4.0.
Auction-day commitment: when PJM's next Base Residual Auction clears, we will publish the updated per-utility impact analysis on this page within 24 hours — including what the new clearing price means for each utility's next default-rate reset. Want it in your inbox the moment it's live? Email [email protected].
We are independent: no supplier commissions, no utility funding, primary sources only. See our methodology and how we make money.