A group of mid-Atlantic Democrats is asking the nation’s largest regional transmission organization to prioritize everyday consumers over the interests of large data centers amid rapid growth in electicity demand.
Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland and Rep. Don Beyer of Virginia led 10 of their colleagues in a Wednesday letter expressing serious concerns regarding PJM Interconnection’s handling of mounting affordability and reliability challenges.
“It is unduly discriminatory to force our constituents to subsidize data center development through astronomical rates and costs,” the lawmakers wrote. “It is likewise unduly discriminatory to ask our constituents to tolerate interruptible electric service if PJM does not take action to address the impending imbalance of energy demand.”
The letter follows Democratic wins in gubernatorial elections in both New Jersey and Virginia that both touched heavily on skyrocketing utility prices. PJM, which serves the mid-Atlantic region, has been heavily criticized by bipartisan federal and state lawmakers for not doing enough to restrain the projected eruption in data center construction.
