Yesterday, the nation’s largest grid operator PJM held its capacity auction for the 2028/2029 Delivery Year. The auction ended when prices reached the price cap, signaling more costly energy bills for everyday Americans who have been paying soaring energy prices for years due to PJM’s poor planning and projected energy demand from data centers. The final price marks continued record-breaking high electricity costs for the region. Back in April 2026, a coalition of state governors in PJM successfully negotiated a price ceiling for the next two years of capacity auctions. Even with this ceiling in place, PJM’s 67 million customers are paying more. Since June 2025, an independent analysis estimates that annual customer costs in PJM have increased $12.5 billion, skyrocketing from $2.2 billion in 2024 to $14.7 billion the following year. The energy generation procured during this auction also disproportionately represents expensive, polluting fossil fuels. Rather than relying on affordable, reliable clean energy, 64 percent of generation for the 2028/2029 year will be met with fossil generation (46 percent with gas, and 18 percent with coal). PJM still plans to hold a special “backstop reliability auction” in September, to procure dedicated generation capacity to serve customers that require a significant amount of energy — such as data centers. It remains to be seen how generators will elect to participate in the September auction, which, according to most recent plans, would have a cap of its’ own, but would not be behold to the same price collar that this and the next two auctions will be (of $325/MW for the cap), though measures could take shape in PJM’s pending response to the FERC 206 Show Cause Order on large load interconnection. See the full market auction results on the PJM website. In response, Sierra Club Senior Advisor Jessi Eidbo issued the following statement: “It’s little surprise that this capacity auction also hit the auction ceiling once again, resulting in no reprieve for record-high prices for customers. Despite the favorable economics for battery storage, wind, and solar, there was little participation in the auction, indicating other barriers to deploying zero-cost marginal fuel resources that could meaningfully alleviate the financial burden that households across the Mid-Atlantic have been and continue to shoulder. We were fortunate to have the price collar in place, but this only offers a temporary protection measure, not a long-term solution. Concerns over not only the September backstop auction, but subsequent baseline auctions remain. “These skyrocketing prices are preventable. PJM should be doing everything in their power to lower prices for their millions of customers, prioritizing responsible guardrails for data center development that protect households and planning for enough clean energy to meet the demands of data centers. Instead, PJM continues to reinforce market structures that favor pricey fossil fuels and stick everyday customers with Big Tech’s power bills.” About the Sierra Club The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person’s right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.
