Will electric bills go down in 2026 or 2027?

For most of the mid-Atlantic and Midwest (the PJM grid region — PA, OH, NJ, MD, DE, DC, northern IL, and much of VA/WV): no. The capacity costs baked into bills are set by auctions held up to three years ahead, and the last three auctions all cleared at the maximum price regulators allow — $329.17/MW-day (July 2025), a record $333.44 (December 2025), and $325 (July 14, 2026). Those three results cover bills through May 2029. The single biggest upward driver of your supply rate is locked at essentially the legal ceiling for the next three years of bills.

What is the PJM capacity auction in plain English?

PJM runs the electric grid for 67 million people across 13 states and DC. Once a year, it holds an auction to book backup power for a year that starts roughly three years later — paying power plants a daily retainer to promise they'll be available on the hottest and coldest days, whether or not they end up running. That retainer is the 'capacity price,' and it gets folded into the supply portion of your electric bill. Think of it as the grid's insurance premium — and the premium just came in at the maximum allowed price for the third year in a row.

What did the July 2026 PJM auction decide?

The auction held in July 2026 set capacity prices for June 2028 through May 2029: $325/MW-day, exactly at the price cap regulators set — meaning prices would have gone higher if allowed. It also came up 6,831 megawatts short of the grid's reliability target — roughly six large power plants' worth of missing capacity — for the second year in a row. Total cost: roughly $16 billion, which works out to about $245 per person per year across everyone PJM serves (an average across homes and businesses, not a bill line item).

When does the July 2026 auction hit my bill?

Around June 2028, when your utility's default supply rate resets for the 2028/29 delivery year. Here's the part most coverage misses: the auction hitting your bill NEXT June (2027) is the December 2025 auction — the most expensive in PJM history at $333.44/MW-day. So the sequence for your bill is: today you're paying the July 2025 auction's costs; June 2027 steps up to the all-time record; June 2028 stays essentially at the ceiling. Three dates, all already decided.

Why do electricity prices keep going up?

Demand is rising faster than new power plants can connect — led by data centers, plus electrification — while older plants keep retiring. When the yearly auction that books backup power has more demand than supply, the price rises until it hits the regulatory cap, which is exactly what happened three years running. PJM's own market monitor attributed the bulk of recent capacity cost increases to data-center demand growth. None of this is your utility marking up power: default supply is a pass-through, and the utility's profit lives in the separate delivery charge.

Is my utility profiting from these increases?

Not from this part of the bill. Capacity costs flow through the supply (generation) charge, which utilities pass through at cost — regulators verify it. Utilities earn their profit on the delivery side, set separately in rate cases. That distinction matters when you decide what to do: complaining to your utility about the supply rate is aiming at the wrong target, but a delivery rate case at your state commission is exactly where public comments count.

Does this affect me if I live outside the PJM region?

The PJM capacity story directly affects PA, OH, NJ, MD, DE, DC, northern IL (ComEd), and much of VA and WV. It does NOT directly apply to Ameren Illinois customers (central/southern IL) — they're on the MISO grid, a separate market with its own auctions that have been much calmer. If a salesperson invokes 'the PJM spike' to pressure an Ameren customer into a contract, that's a red flag.

What can I actually do about rising electric bills?

Four levers, in order of speed: (1) If you're in a choice state, check whether a third-party supplier is charging you MORE than your utility's default rate — that's the one overcharge you can fix in a phone call. (2) Compare fixed-rate supplier offers against your utility's default rate on your state's official comparison tool — with default rates elevated, some fixed offers now genuinely beat them. (3) Cut the kWh side: thermostat setbacks (~10%/yr per DOE), shifting big loads off-peak if you have a time-of-use rate. (4) If bills are a hardship, LIHEAP and utility assistance programs exist in every state we cover and go underused.

Rate increases · plain-English explainer

Will electric bills go down? Here's what just got decided — through 2029.

Last updated: July 18, 2026 · Independent — no supplier commissions.

The honest answer for most of the mid-Atlantic and Midwest: not before mid-2029. On July 14, 2026, the operator of the regional grid held its yearly auction for backup power — and for the third year in a row, the price came in at the legal maximum. That result sets part of your bill for June 2028 through May 2029. Combined with the two auctions before it, the single biggest upward force on your electric bill is now locked at essentially the ceiling for the next three years of bills — and the most expensive auction in history hasn't even reached your bill yet. It arrives next June.

Which auction is on YOUR bill — a timeline

Here's the piece most news coverage skips: these auctions run about three years ahead of your bill. When you read "auction hits record," the question is which year's bill that record lands on. Mapped out:

Your bill TODAY

July 2025 auction — $329.17/MW-day (at that year's cap)

This is the increase you felt in the June 2026 rate resets. It runs through May 2027.

Starting ~June 2027

December 2025 auction — $333.44/MW-day (the all-time record)

The most expensive auction in the grid's history reaches bills next summer. Expect another step up, not relief.

Starting ~June 2028

July 2026 auction — $325/MW-day (at the cap, again)

The auction that just happened. Nominally 2.5% below the record, but still pinned at the maximum — no meaningful relief through May 2029.

Prices are the grid-wide auction results; they reach your bill when your utility's default supply rate resets for each delivery year (around June 1 in most states). Source: PJM Interconnection — 2028/2029 Base Residual Auction results (July 14, 2026).

The auction, translated

What they say	What it means for you
“PJM”	The company that runs the electric grid for 67 million people in 13 states + DC. You don't pay them directly — but their costs flow into every bill in the region.
“Capacity auction”	The grid's yearly insurance-premium auction: power plants get paid a daily retainer to be on call for the hottest and coldest days — whether or not they run.
“Cleared at $325/MW-day”	The retainer price hit the legal maximum. It would have gone higher if regulators allowed it. Your share arrives via the supply line of your bill.
“Cleared at the cap — third consecutive auction”	Three years of bills (June 2026 → May 2029) now carry maxed-out backup-power costs. That's why 'wait it out' isn't a strategy this time.
“6,831 MW reliability shortfall”	The auction came up about six large power plants short of what the grid says it needs. Scarcity is why the price keeps hitting the ceiling.
“2028/2029 delivery year”	Bills from June 2028 through May 2029. The auction happens ~3 years ahead of the bill it affects.

What the whole thing costs — in human units

The July 2026 auction booked 138,318 megawatts at $325 per megawatt-day. Multiply it out (138,318 × $325 × 365 days) and the region's backup-power retainer for that one year comes to roughly $16.4 billion. Spread across the 67 million people PJM serves, that's about $245 per person per year — roughly 67 cents a day — flowing through the region's electric bills before a single kilowatt-hour of actual electricity is bought.

ESTIMATE — our arithmetic on PJM's published auction figures; an average across all homes and businesses in the region, not a line on your bill. Individual impact varies by state, utility, and usage — see our per-utility breakdown.

Why is it this expensive? Demand is growing faster than plants can be built — PJM's own market monitor points primarily at data-center growth — while older plants retire. Too many buyers, not enough sellers, price at the ceiling. Third year running.

What's already decided — and the four things you still control

The capacity price through May 2029: decided. Your usage, your supplier, and your rate plan: not. In order of how fast they pay off:

1

Check whether you're overpaying a third-party supplier

If a supplier charges more than your utility's default rate, that's the one overcharge you can fix in a phone call — and with elevated default rates, an old teaser contract that rolled to variable can be far above the benchmark. Our free audit runs in your browser; we never see your numbers.
Run the 2-minute audit →
2

Compare offers against your state's official benchmark

Elevated default rates cut both ways: some fixed-rate offers now genuinely beat them. Every choice state has an official comparison tool — and we wrote a plain-English guide to each one.
Ohio's guide (see also PA, NJ, IL, MD in the Tools menu) →
3

Cut the kilowatt-hours the maxed-out rate multiplies

A ~10%/year saving from thermostat setbacks (per the US DOE), off-peak laundry and EV charging if you're on a time-of-use rate, and the big-appliance math from our calculators.
The calculators →
4

If bills are a hardship, use the programs that exist for exactly this

LIHEAP, percentage-of-income plans, and utility hardship funds are underused in every state we cover. The applications are less painful than a disconnection notice.
Help paying your bill, by state →

Common questions

Will electric bills go down in 2026 or 2027?: For most of the mid-Atlantic and Midwest (the PJM grid region — PA, OH, NJ, MD, DE, DC, northern IL, and much of VA/WV): no. The capacity costs baked into bills are set by auctions held up to three years ahead, and the last three auctions all cleared at the maximum price regulators allow — $329.17/MW-day (July 2025), a record $333.44 (December 2025), and $325 (July 14, 2026). Those three results cover bills through May 2029. The single biggest upward driver of your supply rate is locked at essentially the legal ceiling for the next three years of bills.
What is the PJM capacity auction in plain English?: PJM runs the electric grid for 67 million people across 13 states and DC. Once a year, it holds an auction to book backup power for a year that starts roughly three years later — paying power plants a daily retainer to promise they'll be available on the hottest and coldest days, whether or not they end up running. That retainer is the 'capacity price,' and it gets folded into the supply portion of your electric bill. Think of it as the grid's insurance premium — and the premium just came in at the maximum allowed price for the third year in a row.
What did the July 2026 PJM auction decide?: The auction held in July 2026 set capacity prices for June 2028 through May 2029: $325/MW-day, exactly at the price cap regulators set — meaning prices would have gone higher if allowed. It also came up 6,831 megawatts short of the grid's reliability target — roughly six large power plants' worth of missing capacity — for the second year in a row. Total cost: roughly $16 billion, which works out to about $245 per person per year across everyone PJM serves (an average across homes and businesses, not a bill line item).
When does the July 2026 auction hit my bill?: Around June 2028, when your utility's default supply rate resets for the 2028/29 delivery year. Here's the part most coverage misses: the auction hitting your bill NEXT June (2027) is the December 2025 auction — the most expensive in PJM history at $333.44/MW-day. So the sequence for your bill is: today you're paying the July 2025 auction's costs; June 2027 steps up to the all-time record; June 2028 stays essentially at the ceiling. Three dates, all already decided.
Why do electricity prices keep going up?: Demand is rising faster than new power plants can connect — led by data centers, plus electrification — while older plants keep retiring. When the yearly auction that books backup power has more demand than supply, the price rises until it hits the regulatory cap, which is exactly what happened three years running. PJM's own market monitor attributed the bulk of recent capacity cost increases to data-center demand growth. None of this is your utility marking up power: default supply is a pass-through, and the utility's profit lives in the separate delivery charge.
Is my utility profiting from these increases?: Not from this part of the bill. Capacity costs flow through the supply (generation) charge, which utilities pass through at cost — regulators verify it. Utilities earn their profit on the delivery side, set separately in rate cases. That distinction matters when you decide what to do: complaining to your utility about the supply rate is aiming at the wrong target, but a delivery rate case at your state commission is exactly where public comments count.
Does this affect me if I live outside the PJM region?: The PJM capacity story directly affects PA, OH, NJ, MD, DE, DC, northern IL (ComEd), and much of VA and WV. It does NOT directly apply to Ameren Illinois customers (central/southern IL) — they're on the MISO grid, a separate market with its own auctions that have been much calmer. If a salesperson invokes 'the PJM spike' to pressure an Ameren customer into a contract, that's a red flag.
What can I actually do about rising electric bills?: Four levers, in order of speed: (1) If you're in a choice state, check whether a third-party supplier is charging you MORE than your utility's default rate — that's the one overcharge you can fix in a phone call. (2) Compare fixed-rate supplier offers against your utility's default rate on your state's official comparison tool — with default rates elevated, some fixed offers now genuinely beat them. (3) Cut the kWh side: thermostat setbacks (~10%/yr per DOE), shifting big loads off-peak if you have a time-of-use rate. (4) If bills are a hardship, LIHEAP and utility assistance programs exist in every state we cover and go underused.

← What changed for YOUR utility Diagnose your bill → The per-utility data →