Ahead of an important vote, D.C.-area lawmakers are urging the operators of the electrical grid that powers the region to protect the power rates that customers pay.
The lawmakers, including D.C. Council member Charles Allen, are calling on PJM Interconnection to adopt a plan called the Protecting Ratepayers Proposal. It’s a bipartisan proposal that, among other things, incentivizes data center owners to provide for their own power, cooling and other infrastructure resources, rather than relying solely on a utility grid.
That’s known in the power business as “bringing its own capacity.”
PJM is the electrical grid operator for Maryland, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia, among many other states.
At a news conference Monday, Council member Allen said if the data center operators are allowed to connect to the grid without conditions, it will cost D.C. power customers a lot of money.
“If nothing changes, residents of the District of Columbia could face increases of as much as $70 a month by 2028,” he said.
Maryland State Sen. Katie Fry Hester, who co-chairs the National Conference of State Legislators’ energy and environment committee, said higher power bills are not the only issue customers face.
“Whose power will be curtailed first when the blackouts, that PJM has told us are coming, arrive?” she asked.
On Wednesday, the PJM Board of Directors will decide how to manage the connection of data centers to the regional grid.
“PJM welcomes all proposals entered into the Critical Issue Fast-Path stakeholder process, which aims to preserve grid reliability for the 67 million people we serve while managing the integration of data centers and other large electricity users onto the system. The fact that we have received 12 different thoughtful proposals indicates the importance of this issue as well as the numerous opinions on how to solve it,” PJM told WTOP in an emailed statement.
Hester characterized the PJM decision as unprecedented and is urging a thoughtful approach.
“We welcome the economic opportunity that these data centers bring, but this growth has to be matched with responsibility,” she said.
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