CHICAGO — The governors of five states have signed a letter calling on PJM Interconnection — a company that operates part of the electric grid — to take “swift action” to address record-setting prices for electricity used in times of very high demand.

The letter comes after a recent PJM auction for such electricity resulted in a bill of $14.7 billion for consumers in 2025-26, compared with $2.2 billion the year before.

That could mean increases in monthly electric bills.

“No one should have to worry about not being able to afford their electricity bill, especially as we approach colder months,” Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said in a news release. “PJM’s record-high price increases showcase a complete disregard of vulnerable communities across state lines, and they must take swift action to prevent our residents from paying billions more than is necessary.”

PJM has attributed the high auction prices to factors such as the retirements of aging power plants, which affects the amount of electricity available for purchase, and an expected increase in demand.

“PJM has been warning for some time that policy pressure on generators to retire before their replacement is in place could result in a supply crunch,” the company said in a written statement. “Growing demand for electricity has made that happen even faster than we feared. Our recent auction for generation capacity reflected these fundamentals, along with a better recognition of the impact of extreme weather on the grid.”

In the letter, the governors of Illinois, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, called on PJM, a federally regulated private company, to take steps to fix “serious flaws” in its auction process. The proposed fixes include ensuring that power plants with delayed retirement dates be included in the next auction.

That change alone would save consumers $3 billion to $5 billion a year without undermining market competitiveness, the letter said, citing sources including PJM’s Independent Market Monitor, a separate entity that provides oversight.

The governors also voiced a long-standing complaint that PJM takes too long to allow new power plants — many of them wind and solar — to connect to the grid.

PJM has repeatedly said that it has successfully reformed the grid-connection process, but clean energy advocates say the process remains too slow.

In the PJM region, the median time a new electricity producer had to wait before being allowed to connect to the grid rose to more than five years in 2022, up from just 20 months in 2005.

The impact of the PJM auction on customers in northern Illinois is complicated and could change, but the state's Citizens Utility Board has provided a rough estimate.

A customer who uses 500 kilowatt-hours of electricity a month will pay about $7.50 to $10 extra per month from June 1, 2025, through May 31, 2026, according to the group’s website.

Customers in southern Illinois, who are served by a different grid operator, aren’t affected by the PJM auction.

PJM — like many regional grid operators — is facing increasing electricity demand due factors such as the rise of data centers and an increase in manufacturing, as well as the move to electric vehicles and appliances.

States such as Illinois, which has an ambitious 2021 climate law that aims to reduce planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions, see new wind and solar farms as a big part of the solution.

But PJM and its independent monitor have raised concerns about the potentially high number of fossil fuel plants expected to retire by 2030, and question how to replace the electricity they can provide during times of very high demand.

Among factors driving retirements: state laws such as Illinois’ Climate and Equitable Jobs Act, which sets a schedule for the closure of fossil fuel plants.

“States … play a critical role in the policy choices they make that directly impact supply and demand on our system,” PJM said in a written statement to the Tribune in which the company also praised state leaders as “critical voices.”

“We appreciate their input as we work to balance the need for an investment signal for new generation with the need to keep prices affordable for consumers,” the PJM statement said.

The letter from the governors welcomed PJM’s proposal to delay the next auction while federal regulators consider a complaint from environmentalists and consumer advocates, and noted the work that PJM has already done to improve the grid-connection process.

Still, the governors wrote, analysts estimate that without reforms to the auction process, consumers could pay even more for peak-demand electricity in 2026-27.

“Urgent action is needed to prevent customers from paying billions more than is necessary,” the letter says.

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