Illinois regulators have approved new terms for data centers seeking to take service from Commonwealth Edison, and they’re opening a broader investigation aimed at protecting other customers from rising electricity costs.
The steps taken last week by the five-member Illinois Commerce Commission follow a surge in electricity prices for customers in Chicago and the northern part of the state, which is part of the PJM Interconnection regional grid. The higher bills are tied in part to rising costs for generating capacity needed to serve data centers in PJM.
“The current surge in data centers and other customers with exceptionally high energy requirements pose a unique challenge for how utilities and energy regulators all over the country should be planning for an affordable and effective power grid,” ICC Chair Doug Scott said Monday in a statement.
Scott described the ICC inquiry as a “first step toward investigating how Illinois’ largest electric utility can serve large load customers while preventing undue cost shifts.”
