Pennsylvania governor complains to regulator about PJM's power market rules

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Reuters

December 30, 2024 6:27 PM EST Updated 11 hours ago


NEW YORK, Dec 30 (Reuters) - Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro filed a complaint with a federal energy regulator against PJM Interconnection on Monday, arguing that the largest U.S. power grid operator must change its market rules or risk soaring electricity costs.

PJM Interconnection, which runs the electrical grid covering more than 65 million Americans across parts of 13 states from Illinois to New Jersey, has faced increased public scrutiny since July, when it said its annual capacity auction would result in record-high payments to power plants in its system.

"It is difficult to escape the conclusion that PJM's capacity market is currently failing," Shapiro, a Democrat, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania said in the complaint filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

The complaint argues, in part, that PJM's capacity market price cap is unreasonably high and threatens to add billions of dollars to power bills while failing to substantially increase grid reliability. If certain market rules remain in place, ratepayers across the PJM region could see as much as a $20.4 billion increase in costs, the complaint said.

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/pennsylvania-governor-complains-regulator-about-pjms-power-market-rules-2024-12-30/

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Link to COMPLAINT (PDF) - Governor Josh Shapiro and The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Complainants, v. PJM Interconnection, L.L.C. Respondent.

[bucolic_frolic]

1. Thrills. We've been on rate creep for a long time.

Everything will be fine if we just allow the free market to produce energy, distribute it through competitive bidding, and give consumers freedom of choice, right?

It was suppose to save money but most all prices are within 2 cents of each other. There are hundreds of "suppliers" with varying degrees of contractual period. Some, or the most prominent, are on an online exchange of sorts, but there are dozens of others, some with $99 disconnect fees. Seems to me it's all marketing gimmicks. The same guys produce the power, with new ones being solar and wind alternatives. There's a tiny fee for every last aspect of marketing including a monthly billing fee, about $10. $10 to send a bill.

Generation, distribution. Now they tell us it's all a competitive process, and surely the lawyers are involved with all those marketing contracts, bidding, and "power plant operators". They decimated the regulated market (though the PUC still exists and operates, without much power) and now each stage has more actors and more participants with their hands out. Efficiency of the free market, right?

[BumRushDaShow]

2. I have stayed with my original - PECO

because there are so many "scam" suppliers including those who send out predatory sales reps door-to-door to trick people into "switching" by posing as PECO reps, and asking to see the physical electric bill to determine whether they can "save" (and then obtaining the account number so they can illegally switch the person to the scam provider).

I get a billion pieces of junk mail from them.

Over the summer, I even saw one harassing an employee of one of the take-out Chinese food places that I frequent (she told the guy to go call her boss after a lengthy back-and-forth, as she was not authorized to have any discussions like that), so they do it to small businesses as well.

[bucolic_frolic]

3. THANKS for the warning, I had no idea. I thought it all online these days. /nt

[BumRushDaShow]

4. These predatory electric supplier "sales people"

are the reason why I ended up installing cameras to monitor my front so I don't answer the door when I see one.

I even had a nephew who briefly worked for one a bunch of years ago (as a quick job to make some $$$) and I excoriated him about it.

PUC Urges Consumers to #CheckForID When Dealing with Door-to-Door or In-Person Energy Sales Agents

Published on 6/5/2023

Filed under: Consumer Education Electric Gas

Offers Key Tips to Help Identify Legitimate Sales Agents and Avoid Deceptive, Misleading or High-Pressure Marketing Pitches

HARRISBURG – As in-person sales and marketing activities increase across Pennsylvania – driven by warmer weather and continuing fluctuations in energy prices – the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) today is offering consumers key tips to help identify legitimate door-to-door energy sales agents and avoid potential scams.

“Pennsylvania has clear rules regarding energy sales practices, and the PUC encourages consumers to understand these important protections,” said Gladys Brown Dutrieuille, PUC Chairman. “PUC regulations provide consumers with essential tools to help recognize deceptive sales practices and avoid falling victim to unscrupulous sales agents.”



(snip)

[AllaN01Bear]

5. could u imagine if we turned this into good and what could be accomplished rather than stealing.

[BumRushDaShow]

7. Generational

exposure to "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" where those who "want it that bad" will find a way to generate profits in order to "live the lifestyle".

[AllaN01Bear]

6. i got several calls last week.

1: claiming to be medicare shipment des . buzzer. not
2: for allan01bear and then dead air. diferent actors after but allways the same number . the lead call sounds like hes got rocks in his mouth. buzzer . not.

[modrepub]

8. When The Proverbial Sh*t Hits The Fan

and people in the MidAtlantic see their electric rates suddenly rise, the Republicans will seize on this to blame the Renewable Energy folks for causing all of this. And guess what, that's not what's causing the future auction rates to go up. Believe it or not, "it's complicated".

This has been building up for decades. Within the PJM grid, manufacturing has been moved overseas, average population has probably held steady, and many states (like PA) have deregulated the market. Thus, for a long time electric demand has been flat, the old coal plants that used to supply over 50% of the grid have become the high-cost electric producers (and most plants closed due to deregulation as too high-cost to run). A lot of combined cycle natural gas plants (feeding off the Marcellus Shale) have been built in the last 10 years as well as numerous solar and wind farms.

But the PJM process to replace the closing plants has been slow and cumbersome. Short story, there hasn't been enough new electric production to replace the high-cost coal plants that have closed. There are also choke points in the electric distribution system, often stymied by NIMBY opposition, that exasperate distribution and cause short-term price spikes. Add unplanned increases in electric demands from AI, data storage centers, and reshored manufacturing plus slow to act PJM bureaucracy and you have price spikes on the electric futures market.

Long (complicated) story short, there's about 100% probability that if you're in the PJM grid service area, your electric bill is going up in the next couple of years. Count on it.

[orangecrush]

9. So glad

I have a Democratic governor.

[DENVERPOPS]

10. A whole big bunch of other states

have been and still are getting bombarded with electricity and gas rate increases by Xcel.....It seems the Colorado PUC just rubber stamps any and all rate increases, and never finds one they don't like that Xcel proposes......

[nmmi]

11. MN Utility customers are behind on their bills by about $100 M, about 2X as much as before the COVID pandemic

Xcel also "serves" much of southern Minnesota including the Twin Cities --

As costs rise, number of Minnesotans losing heat, electricity spikes, MPR, 12/24/24

. . . It found utilities disconnected more than 85,000 residential households from either gas or electric services this year. That’s more than any full year going back to at least 2015. And the numbers are only for January through October, so they could be higher by the year’s end. ((see 4 paragraphs below about the Minnesota Cold Weather Rule, which presumably would sizably reduce the disconnection rate from October thru April -nmmi))

. . . Utility customers are behind on their bills by about $100 million in total, about twice as much as before the COVID-19 pandemic, said Annie Levenson-Falk, executive director of the Citizens Utility Board.

. . . During the pandemic, utilities suspended disconnections while people were confined to their homes. But since they’ve resumed, there’s been a steady increase in the number of people disconnected, Levenson-Falk said.

. . . Consumer groups had raised concerns about Xcel's policy requiring customers to pay half their balance to reconnect service.

. . . Minnesota’s Cold Weather Rule prevents disconnections from October through April, if it would affect the household’s primary heating source. But there’s a misconception that this is an automatic protection. The customer has to contact the utility and set up a payment plan. Otherwise, they can lose their service.

MORE: https://www.mprnews.org/story/2024/12/24/as-costs-rise-number-of-minnesotans-losing-heat-electricity-spikes

(emphasis added)