PJM wants data centers to bring their own power. Pennsylvania’s on it.

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro has signed an executive order aimed at making large data centers pay their own way on the power grid, rather than passing costs on to regular electricity customers. The order targets data centers over 25 megawatts and ties faster permitting to a set of requirements: these facilities must either line up their own power supply (from gas, batteries, solar, wind, or programs that pay households to cut energy use at peak times) or agree to be the first cut off during grid emergencies, ahead of homes and businesses. The move follows a similar proposal from PJM, the regional grid operator that manages electricity markets across 13 states including Pennsylvania.

For homeowners, the significance is mostly about costs, not immediate changes to your utility bill. Data centers built to power the AI boom have been driving up wholesale electricity prices across the PJM region. Shapiro's order also directs state regulators to make sure data centers, not other customers, cover costs from a grid-reliability backstop auction PJM plans to hold this fall, and pay for any grid upgrades utilities make to serve them.

The order also pushes data centers toward cleaner power, requiring those that sign on to source a rising share of their electricity from carbon-free sources, starting at 10 percent in 2027 and reaching 32 percent by 2035. Separate legislation, still stalled in the state Senate, would limit data centers' use of diesel generators as backup power.