Maryland, My Maryland

More on that potential price rise in electrical costs next year. Utility Drive,  PJM capacity prices hit record highs, sending build signal to generators. "Consumers across the PJM Interconnection footprint will pay $14.7 billion for capacity in the 2025/26 delivery year, up from $2.2 billion in the last auction."

The auction prices mainly reflect tighter electricity supply and higher demand, according to Bresler.

Bids were about 6,600 MW lower than in the last auction due to power plant retirements and must-offer exceptions for power plants heading towards shutdown, Bresler said. Also, estimated peak load increased to about 153,000 MW from 150,000 MW, he said.

In the auction, PJM bought 134,672 MW for the capacity year that starts June 1, 2025, according to the grid operator. About 135,694 MW was offered in the auction, not counting energy efficiency resources.

The cleared capacity included about 110 MW of new generation and 755 MW from uprates to existing or planned generation. The quantity of new generation is down from the previous auction where there was nearly 330 MW of new generation.

Gas-fired generation accounted for 48% of the cleared capacity, followed by nuclear at 21%, coal at 18%, demand response at 5%, hydroelectric at 4%, solar and wind at 1% each, and 2% from other resources, according to PJM.

It is unclear how the jump in capacity prices will affect customer bills, according to Bresler. Last year, capacity costs accounted for roughly 8% of customer electric bills, he said.

OK, then, that's better than I feared. If capacity costs were only 8% of our rates last year, ramping them up 8-10 X is a big jump, but not the mammoth increase I was thinking when I saw the first article. 

“We’re finally seeing prices reflect demand, which is increasing at a growing rate,” William Scherman, a partner at Vinson & Elkins, said Wednesday. “One of the key take aways from the auction results is that the recent rash of fossil fuel plant closures is not the reliability red-herring as some people have claimed, since the reliability red-herring has come home to roost.”

The auction results will likely spur power plant developers to build generation in PJM’s footprint, according to the Electric Power Supply Association.

Meanwhile, Marylanders continue to root for a return to the 19th Century. Maryland Matters,  People power vs. electric power in feud over proposed transmission project. "Opposition to the so-called Maryland Piedmont Reliability Project has spread like wildfire this summer."