BALTIMORE — A proposal from regional power grid operator PJM could leave Marylanders covering $800 million of a transmission line project aimed at providing power to Virginia data centers.

Opposition to the payment structure of a transmission plan has been filed from Maryland's Office of the People's Counsel.

David Lapp saying the plan would straddle Maryland ratepayers with costs that mainly benefit northern Virginia data centers.

"What is uncommon, what is a relatively recent development just in the past few years. Is the demand for new transmission being caused by massive data center growth," said Lapp.

The project is projected to bring a large amount of energy to northern Virginia.

Another concern for the people's counsel.

"So in northern Virginia for this procurement, we have about 10 gigawatts, 10,000 megawatts of new new demand, and so this is on top of existing demand and that's substantially more than the entire load for Maryland's largest utility, Baltimore gas and electric, which is about a little over 6.5 gigawatts," said Lapp.

The OPC sent a letter opposed to the payment structure - in it you can see the projected growth for utilities.

BGE has a negative projected peak performance while dominion has a projected 45% increase.

"We don't think that it's fair to charge Maryland residential customers for that because they're not causing those costs," said Lapp.

We reached out to PJM for comment.

When we asked "Is this common? - other states covering costs for major power projects in other states."

PJM said, "That is an incorrect description of what's happening here. Maryland is part of PJM, a 13-state (and D.C.) regional system that serves the power demands of 67 million customers reliably at the lowest cost available." Adding that "Maryland, similar to many other states across the PJM footprint, needs energy infrastructure. For decades, the state has been importing electricity produced in other states – historically, 40% – to meet its needs."

We also asked, "When would we see the increase in our bills and by how much?"

"PJM doesn't set retail rates. It is up to the transmission companies to decide how much cost they will pass on to customers," said PJM.

The Full Statement is found below.

Is this true the proposal would cost Marylanders that much?

PJM does not allocate transmission costs to states. The transmission development costs are allocated based on PJM’s Tariff to the relevant transmission zones that could span/cover multiple states.

Is this common? - other states covering costs for major power projects in other states.

That is an incorrect description of what’s happening here. Maryland is part of PJM, a 13-state (and D.C.) regional system that serves the power demands of 67 million customers reliably at the lowest cost available. PJM Planning process looks annually at the evolving needs of the transmission system to ensure the reliability of service is maintained to all customers cost-effectively. With rapidly growing demand for electricity in many parts of the system, including in Maryland, changes in our generation resource mix including both the entry of new generation sources and the rapid retirement of aging power plants, new transmission lines are needed.

PJM selects its solutions to the system needs through a transparent and competitive process where transmission developers compete to offer their best solution to address those needs. The selected transmission projects, by their regional nature, often cross multiple states, and the costs are allocated with FERC approval based on which areas are served by the projects. Marylanders benefit from this line because it is needed to keep their lights on and Maryland consumers will be charged for their share of that benefit. Data Centers that are locating in Virginia, Maryland and throughout the PJM footprint power the digital economy that is part of everyone’s daily lives as well as the development of artificial intelligence, and have been identified as a national economic priority by successive administrations.

Maryland, similar to many other states across the PJM footprint, needs energy infrastructure. For decades, the state has been importing electricity produced in other states – historically, 40% – to meet its needs. Maryland has seen the retirement of 6,000 MW of generation resources since 2018, with only 1,600 MW added during that time frame. In addition, Maryland also is adding significant new electricity demand.

A major driver of this particular set of projects, along with growing demand from data centers throughout PJM, is the retirement of generators in Maryland (as well as other states) and the need to serve the overall load from where the available sources are.

In general, and when a specific transmission area suffers from lack of local generation resources, that demand has to be served from the rest of the interconnection through the greater transmission network, which is currently being reinforced through PJM’s Regional Transmission Expansion Plan.

When would we see the increase in our bills and by how much?

PJM doesn’t set retail rates. It is up to the transmission companies to decide how much cost they will pass on to customers, what method they will use to allocate that cost among the different customer classes, and over what time period they plan to do so. You might find our fact sheet [pjm.com] on the project helpful as well.