PJM data center demand drives US grid capacity prices to the cap again
Anyone on the largest US power grid is now paying for the AI buildout. PJM cleared its 2028/2029 capacity auction at 325 dollars per MW-day, close to last year's record cap, and its own market monitor names data center load growth as the primary driver. Per PJM Inside Lines and U
Households and businesses across the largest US electricity market are paying more because of the data center boom. PJM Interconnection, which runs the grid for 13 states and Washington DC, cleared its 2028/2029 capacity auction at 325 dollars per megawatt-day. That follows the 2026/2027 auction, which hit the FERC-approved cap of 329.17 dollars per megawatt-day for the entire footprint, up from 269.92 dollars the year before, according to PJM Inside Lines. PJM's independent market monitor, Monitoring Analytics, concluded that data center load growth is the primary reason for recent and expected capacity market conditions. It estimated that data centers were responsible for 63 percent of the increase in prices in the 2025/2026 auction, which translates to about 9.3 billion dollars recovered from customers across the region in higher electricity rates. The US Department of Energy projects that data centers will account for up to 12 percent of US electricity demand by 2028. Sources: PJM Inside Lines, Utility Dive.