WASHINGTON, DC – Representatives Jamie Raskin (MD-08), Jennifer McClellan (VA-04) and Don Beyer (VA-08), and Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) led 30 members of Congress in writing a letter calling on PJM Interconnection (PJM), the region’s power grid operator, to swiftly improve the reliability of the electricity grid, deliver cheaper electricity prices, and address the biggest roadblocks to transitioning to renewable energy.
In their letter sent today to PJM—the country’s largest electricity market serving 65 million customers across 13 states in the Mid-Atlantic region and the Great Lakes—the lawmakers urged the grid operator to swiftly and fully comply with Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC’s) Order No. 1920 and Order No. 2023 and pursue proactive transmission planning and interconnection reforms to help the electricity grid maintain reliability and increase the supply of clean energy.
“Our region must add new energy sources to our electric grid to meet our constituents’ and businesses’ growing energy needs,” wrote the lawmakers. “Renewable energy is now the cheapest form of energy, and a recent PJM report shows that renewables can meet our region’s increasing energy demands. Federal investments in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and state policies on fostering renewable energy have created an opportunity for billions of dollars of investment in low-cost, low-carbon electricity supply and storage. The PJM region can seize this opportunity to facilitate the replacement of old, costly, increasingly unreliable, and polluting power plants with lower-cost clean energy—and score a triple win for public health, the environment, and consumers’ energy bills.”
PJM expects energy demands to increase nearly 40% by 2039. As the region’s energy needs grow, energy supply must keep pace with rising demand—or consumers will face higher utility bills. In PJM’s most recent electricity capacity auction for 2025, prices increased more than six-fold to about $14.7 billion from $2.4 billion in 2024. The price increases in the electricity auction are estimated to translate into price increases for millions of customers in the PJM region.
The letter from the lawmakers urges PJM to do the following:
- Comply with FERC Order No. 1920 by developing transmission planning scenarios that account for states’ clean energy policies and incentives in the IRA, consider and maximize the economic benefits of renewable power, and comprehensively plan for fossil fuel retirements driven by states’ policies and economic factors;
- Comply with FERC Order No. 2023, which requires grid operators across the country to address the backlog of new energy sources waiting to be connected to our electricity grid;
- Create a robust process for state policymakers and regulators to engage with PJM on transmission planning decisions;
- And prioritize energy solutions such as advanced transmission technologies that help minimize community impacts resulting from siting and permitting decisions.
The lawmakers emphasized, “A robust transmission grid that is ready to accept new resources and maintain reliability in the face of increasing energy demand will not be possible without swift and full compliance with Order No. 1920 and Order No. 2023.”
Representatives Raskin, Beyer and McClellan and Senator Van Hollen were joined on the letter by Representatives Matt Cartwright (PA-08), Sean Casten (IL-06), Gerry Connolly (VA-11), Danny Davis (IL-07), Chris Deluzio (PA-17), Bill Foster (IL-11), Jesús García (IL-04), Steny Hoyer (MD-05), Jared Huffman (CA-02), Glenn Ivey (MD-04), Jonathan Jackson (IL-01), Robin Kelly (IL-02), Andy Kim (NJ-03), Raja Krishnamoorthi (IL-08), Summer Lee (PA-12), Kweisi Mfume (MD-07), Eleanor Norton (D-DC), Mike Quigley (IL-05), John Sarbanes (MD-03), Jan Schakowsky (IL-09), Eric Sorensen (IL-17), David Trone (MD-06), Delia Ramirez (IL-03), Dutch Ruppersberger (MD-02), Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ-12) and Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ), Ben Cardin (D-MD), Thomas Carper (D-DE), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and Dick Durbin (D-IL).
The full letter to PJM can be found here.
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