A coalition of state consumer agencies filed a complaint with the federal energy regulator this week seeking refunds from the nation’s largest power market, which they say overcharged ratepayers for electricity.
The complaint filed by consumer protection agencies to FERC on Monday argues that PJM Interconnection’s market rules distorted supply and demand in its latest auction for power resources, which sent prices skyrocketing.
It’s the latest formal complaint against the grid operator that FERC will need to resolve following the July spike in power prices to as high as $466 per megawatt-day in some areas that added more $12 billion in customer costs from the previous auction. PJM delayed its next auction last month because of turmoil over the results.
PJM has argued that the inflated prices reflect an expected dramatic increase in power demand in part due to rapid construction of new, power-guzzling data centers. At the same time, the market operator argues, power plants are being forced into retirement, leading to a precarious crunch in supply.
