PJM asks to bill its March power auction to data-center zones

PJM Interconnection, the grid operator for Pennsylvania, Ohio and their neighbors, wants to open bidding in its one-time Reliability Backstop Procurement on March 1, 2027, and to bill the zones where large loads such as data centers are arriving. Its amended proposal, filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Oct. 29 in docket ER27-330 and corrected on Oct. 30, asks FERC to rule by Jan. 29, 2027.

The filing matters because, if FERC accepts it, it sets who pays for 15 years of new capacity: customers in zones that add large loads such as data centers, not the whole PJM region.

FERC accepted the framework on Sept. 29 but suspended it until Feb. 28, 2027, and asked PJM to rethink cost sharing, collateral and the rules for utilities that leave PJM. The new filing addresses all three, and PJM asks for most of it to take effect on Feb. 28.

What PJM will buy

The procurement fills the gap left by PJM's auction for 2028/29, which FERC's order puts at 6,831 MW. PJM will recompute that gap just before bidding, with a load forecast due by Feb. 1, 2027, and cap it at the large-load growth utilities report. A PJM manager's affidavit puts large-load growth in PJM's 2026 forecast at 9,000 MW, above the shortfall.

Sellers take part voluntarily: new plants, batteries, uprates, repowered retired plants and new demand response, running by June 1, 2032. Commitments cover the 15 delivery years from 2028/29 through 2042/43; projects that start later get the rest of that term. The megawatt-weighted average levelized cost of all winners cannot exceed $555 per megawatt-day. Filled at the cap, the original 6,831 MW target would cost at most $1.38bn* a year, averaged over the term.

Who pays

Utilities outside PJM's self-supply areas must report, at least seven days before bidding opens, the growth in large loads, meaning sites of 50 MW or more, from 2026 to 2028/29. PJM wants that reporting rule in force on Jan. 29, 2027, a month before the rest.

PJM will split the target among zones in proportion to that growth, less new capacity that large loads buy themselves on contracts of five years or more. The split stays fixed for 15 years. States can steer the charges to the power suppliers serving data centers; otherwise every supplier in the zone pays by its share of capacity obligations. Retail charges, data centers' included, are for states to set, PJM says. It dropped an opt-out for cooperatives and municipal utilities whose rates states don't regulate.

Suppliers that carry the charges must post collateral worth 40% of the discounted payment obligation. At the $555 ceiling that is $686,000 per megawatt, PJM says, down from the $1.5m it first proposed.

What the Oct. 30 correction changed

The correction fixed a clerical slip that had put Jan. 15, 2027, on the reporting rule's tariff record, and added a missing tariff citation to a waiver request. In that request, PJM asks that if its auction for 2029/30, held in December, clears short for a third straight year, FERC excuse it from investigating the cause and from declaring a capacity shortage and filing for a separate backstop auction.

The size of the bill is contested. PJM's independent market monitor argued in the first round that 4,017 MW of data-center load had been canceled or delayed as of Sept. 21, which it said would cut the shortfall to 3,055 MW, FERC's order records. The monitor and Public Citizen moved to intervene on Oct. 30. On Oct. 29 FirstEnergy, the Indicated PJM Transmission Owners, the Northern Virginia Electric Cooperative, the Ohio Consumers' Counsel, the Joint Consumer Advocates and Constellation asked FERC to rehear its Sept. 29 order, and FERC has moved hearing briefs to Jan. 11 and Jan. 26, 2027. Rackline's [Oct. 17 analysis](https://www.rackline.news/story/1uynca0) covers the auctions that left PJM short.

Verdict and signposts

PJM has filed changes on each issue FERC set for hearing, and the design now ties the bill to reported growth in large loads such as data centers. The open question is size, which February's utility reports will settle.

Nov. 30, 2026: the comment deadline PJM requested; FERC has set no date yet.

December 2026: PJM's 2029/30 auction; a short result triggers the waiver request.

Jan. 29, 2027: PJM's requested date for FERC's order and for the reporting rule.

Feb. 22, 2027*: utilities' large-load reports due.

March 1, 2027: bidding opens for four weeks; awards in early May.

*Rackline estimate: 6,831 MW times the $555 per megawatt-day cap times 365 days, assuming the whole original target clears at the cap. The cap limits the average levelized cost over the term, so single years can run higher; PJM will recompute the target before bidding. Feb. 22 is seven days before bidding opens on March 1, the reporting deadline in the filing.