PJM status quo ‘untenable’: FERC Commissioner LaCerte

A federal energy regulator says the way the country's largest grid operator, PJM, makes decisions is not working. David LaCerte, a commissioner at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), said PJM's process for gathering input from utilities and other players has "ground into gridlock," calling the current setup untenable. PJM runs the electric grid and wholesale power markets across 13 mid-Atlantic and Midwestern states plus Washington, D.C., so decisions made there ripple into the rates and reliability of homes in that region. FERC plans a hearing on July 23 to look at possible fixes, including faster review procedures for urgent issues.

Separately, FERC is reconsidering the financial incentives it gives companies to build new power lines, such as extra profit margins and the ability to recover construction costs early. LaCerte said these incentives haven't been revisited in years in some cases and need to be tied more closely to actual results, like lower costs for customers. He also said FERC will keep looking at newer grid technologies that can move more power through existing lines without building new ones, which can be a cheaper way to handle rising electricity demand.

None of this changes anything about your home right now. It's a look at how the rules behind your electric bill and grid reliability get made, and a sign that regulators think the current system needs an overhaul. Any changes that come out of the July hearing could eventually affect electricity costs and reliability in PJM's footprint, but there's no immediate action for homeowners to take.