The Power Auction No One Told You About
THE DISPATCH — CIVIC EDUCATION
Part of your bill pays for power plants to stand by, like insurance. The premium jumped, and you pay it every year.
Look at your Delmarva bill. Since 2025, part of it pays for power plants to stand by, just in case. The state's consumer office estimates the first big jump added about $4 a month, or about 2 percent.[1] You did not vote on it, and you cannot opt out.
It comes from an auction run by a group called PJM. PJM runs the grid for 13 states and Washington, D.C., including Maryland.[2] In one year, the auction price jumped from $28.92 to $269.92 for each megawatt, each day.[3]
FIRST: WHAT IS THE POWER AUCTION?
Think of insurance. You pay a premium every year so help is ready if something goes wrong, even if nothing does. The power auction works like that. PJM buys "stand-by" power for all of us. That premium is called capacity. The power you actually use is called energy. Both land on your bill. The difference from real insurance: you do not pick the coverage, and the premium jumped.
Who gets the money? Power plant owners, not Delmarva. Every winning plant gets the same price.[3] Delmarva passes the cost of supply on to you with little or no markup.[4]
WHAT YOU MAY HAVE HEARD
"Data centers drive up the cost and do not pay." Half true. The Market Monitor says data center demand is a big reason the standby price jumped.[5] Data centers do pay for the electricity they use. The worry is that their growth raises the shared standby price everyone pays.[6]
"The state shut down the power plants." We found no state order or law closing Brandon Shores or Wagner. Their owner, Talen, planned to retire them. PJM said they were still needed, so they are being paid to stay available.[7][8] In 2020 Talen agreed with the Sierra Club to stop burning coal. The club says it amended that deal in January 2025 so the plant can run under the reliability deal.[9]
WHAT HAPPENED
Three things matter most.
1. The premium jumped 833 percent and stayed high. It rose from $28.92 (June 2024) to $269.92 (June 2025), which is our math. The Market Monitor, PJM's independent watchdog, said the auctions "were not competitive, in significant part as a result of forecast demand for data centers."[5] A cap now stops it at about $325 to $333, about 11 times the old price, which is our math. PJM still came up 6,831 megawatts short of its goal. PJM says that does not necessarily mean the lights go out, but it does mean less cushion.[3][10] What it costs you: about $4 a month at the start, and high prices in three auctions in a row. A flat extra charge takes the biggest bite from the smallest budgets. Part 4 shows how much.
2. Data center growth is a shared bill. The Monitor says data center load added $29.4 billion to capacity payments across the last four auctions.[11] Queen Anne's County is in the pricing area PJM calls DPL, which is Delmarva's zone. What it costs you: you help pay for data centers you may never see. We found no 2026 local dollar figure.
3. Two old plants are paid about twice what FERC's staff said. Talen planned to close Brandon Shores (coal) and H.A. Wagner (mostly oil) in 2025. Talen's plant companies, PJM, Maryland's PSC, and Exelon settled. OPC and the Market Monitor opposed it. OPC says Talen asked for $216 million a year, FERC's staff said $97 million, and the deal settled at $180 million.[12] FERC approved it in May 2025 and added two years, to May 31, 2031, in August 2026. OPC has appealed.[12] What it costs you: customers pay more than staff said it costs. On the Shore the share is small. OPC's 2024 estimate put about 1 percent on Delmarva's area and 74 percent on BGE's.[1]
OUR ANALYSIS: YOU PAY FOR THE DELAY
Why are the plants still needed? Because two big power lines are late. PJM's 2023 plan required both by June 1, 2027.[13] FERC says both are now due in December 2030.[12] That is about three and a half years later, which is our math. PJM says the companies building the lines expect trouble with land, permits, and supplies.[14]
Meanwhile, the plants' fixed payments come to up to about $1.1 billion over six years, before credits for what the plants earn. That is our math from the FERC filings.[12] Customers in the affected zones pay it. Who is held to the 2027 date? We found no one. We found no penalty for the late lines and no refund to customers for the wait.
What it means: the cost of delay lands on customers. The people who could speed things up do not pay when they don't. Part 3 shows who is building those lines.
WHAT SUPPORTERS OF THE CURRENT SYSTEM SAY
PJM says the auction lines up enough power, and all 13 governors backed its cap proposal.[10] FERC approved the plant deal as fair overall, citing other benefits.[12]
WHAT CRITICS SAY
OPC is the state's advocate for home customers, so this is an advocate's view. It says that if the plant payment runs through 2031, customers pay nearly $500 million too much over six years.[15]
Our reading: no Maryland rate case controls this part of your bill. FERC and PJM decide it. Part 5 shows who decides and how you can be heard.
WHAT WE DON'T KNOW YET
We do not know why each line slipped, whether anyone faces a penalty, or how much the plants run. OPC's appeal could change the payments.
WHAT YOU CAN DO
- Find your supply line. Look at your bill and compare it with your utility's "price to compare" (Delmarva or Choptank) so you know what you pay for power.[16]
- Learn more from OPC. Read its page on PJM and FERC issues. Questions? Call 1-800-207-4055.[17]
- Ask your state senator and delegates what Maryland is doing to get a bigger say at PJM. In August 2026, FERC announced a process to work on how PJM is governed.[18] Part 5 shows who they are.
Follow the Money, Part 2 of 5. Next in the series: Part 3, "Who Gets Paid for the Wires?" The local poles and wires on your street belong to a company with investors. We follow the money to see what it earns and who says yes.
Sources
Primary sources are government or company documents. Secondary or advocacy sources are labeled.
- Maryland Office of People's Counsel, Bill and Rate Impacts of PJM's 2025/2026 Capacity Market Results, Aug. 2024 (state consumer advocate; advocacy source). opc.maryland.gov
- PJM Interconnection, auction release for 2026/27 (primary). insidelines.pjm.com
- PJM, 2028/2029 Base Residual Auction Report, July 2026 (primary). pjm.com
- Exelon, 2025 Form 10-K (SEC filing). sec.gov
- MyChesCo, Mar. 20, 2026, quoting PJM's Independent Market Monitor (news report). mychesco.com
- Utility Dive, Mar. 13, 2026, quoting Monitoring Analytics (news report). utilitydive.com
- PJM Inside Lines, Wagner retirements and reliability (primary). insidelines.pjm.com
- PJM Board, response to Maryland congressional delegation, Aug. 30, 2024 (primary). ftp.pjm.com
- Sierra Club Maryland, Brief Summary of Sierra Club's Involvement with Talen Energy and the Brandon Shores Power Plant, Mar. 2025 (advocacy source). sierraclub.org
- PJM Inside Lines, FERC approves capacity auction price cap extension (primary). insidelines.pjm.com
- Utility Dive, Aug. 27, 2026, on the Market Monitor's 2026 first-half state of the market report (news report). utilitydive.com
- FERC, Order Accepting Amended Reliability-Must-Run Rate Schedules, 196 FERC 61,140, Dockets ER26-2739-002 and ER26-2740-002, Aug. 18, 2026 (primary; Accession No. 20260818-3043). elibrary.ferc.gov
- PJM, 2022 Window 3 baseline project B3800 components, Dec. 5, 2023 (primary). pjm.com
- Maryland Matters, June 11, 2026 (news report). marylandmatters.org
- Maryland OPC, protest at FERC, Dockets ER26-2739 and ER26-2740, June 25, 2026 (advocacy filing). opc.maryland.gov
- Maryland PSC, Standard Offer Service page (primary). psc.maryland.gov
- Maryland OPC, FERC and PJM Issues page (advocacy source). opc.maryland.gov
- FERC, notice on PJM governance process, Aug. 10, 2026 (primary). ferc.gov
