Utilities and experts warn PJM capacity-auction spike will lift summer bills; call for faster interconnection and short‑term relief

At a joint Senate select committee and Assembly Telecommunications and Utilities Committee hearing in Trenton on Friday, executives for New Jersey’s major electric utilities and energy experts told legislators a steep jump in PJM capacity prices will raise residential bills this summer and that long delays in the PJM interconnection queue are preventing lower‑cost clean generation and storage from coming online.

The utilities tied the immediate price shock to recent capacity‑market auction results and to a longer trend of retiring plants and rising demand. “This formerly small percentage of utility bills will now grow significantly and will cause a between 17% to 20% increase, about $25 a month for an average residential customer is our estimate, in the bills our customers will pay,” Public Service Enterprise Group Senior Vice President Rick Thigpen told the committees.

The warning was repeated by other company officials. “That average residential customer will see a total bill impact of approximately $23 per month as a result of supply cost increases,” Philip Vavala, regional president of Atlantic City Electric, said. Theresa Reed, vice president of state finance and regulatory for Jersey Central Power & Light, provided a typical bill example: “Currently, bills are approximately $112.25 a month. They will go up to $134.92. That’s a $22.67 increase for the average typical customer.”

Why it matters: capacity auctions, interconnection backlog, permitting

Committee members and witnesses described two linked problems. First, PJM’s capacity auction cleared at prices far higher than prior auctions after the market operator and its participants confronted a tighter supply/demand balance driven by generation retirements and stronger electricity demand, including large new loads such as data centers. Second, many lower‑cost resources that could supply capacity and lower prices are delayed in PJM’s interconnection queue or…