The latest PJM capacity auction sent a message Pennsylvania can’t afford to ignore: we need more generation, and we need it fast. Prices rose sharply compared to last year, reflecting a grid that’s increasingly strained by baseload retirements, permitting delays and stalled infrastructure projects.
This wasn’t a surprise to anyone who’s been paying attention – least of all PJM.
For years, PJM has warned that dispatchable generation is retiring faster than it’s being replaced, and that the interconnection and permitting backlog is threatening grid reliability. The market is working as designed: sending a price signal that more generation is needed to keep the lights on.
And EQT CEO Toby Rice said it best: “Pennsylvania is set to deliver.”
Look at what’s already in motion. In July, companies announced billions in new infrastructure and workforce investments across the Commonwealth. Developers are ready and the private sector is stepping up. We’ve got the gas, the infrastructure, the workforce and the capital – but none of that matters if policymakers keep standing in the way.
The data makes it clear: competitive power generators have kept electricity prices in check for years, thanks in large part to abundant, affordable Pennsylvania natural gas. As the dominant fuel source on our grid, natural gas has played a critical role in keeping energy costs low while delivering the reliable, dispatchable power households and businesses depend on.
So why are prices expected to climb even further – despite years of gas-driven consumer energy savings – as reliability concerns grow? It’s not a supply problem – Pennsylvania’s the nation’s second largest gas producer and #1 exporter of electricity. The problem is policy.
Instead of advancing proposals that support new baseload power and a stable energy supply, some continue to push for generation taxes and mandates that distort the market and seek to micromanage our grid. These policies force utilities and suppliers to buy intermittent wind and solar, while sidelining reliable, low-cost natural gas and discouraging construction of new baseload power plants.
What we don’t have yet is a consistent permitting system that allows projects to move. Timelines have exploded. Regulations are increasingly weaponized. Projects are continually litigated. Transmission costs – driven by utility investments in operations and infrastructure, not generation – are outpacing inflation. And federal and state energy policy changes faster than developers can update their models.
The result? A growing gap between what consumers need and what the grid can deliver. That’s why this week’s event in Williamsport matters.
Organized by the MSC alongside regional partners at Penn College and the Williamsport/Lycoming Chamber of Commerce, this luncheon will bring together industry leaders, local officials and community stakeholders to unpack the barriers still standing in the way of new gas generation, the policy fixes needed to break the permitting log jam and the importance of letting Pennsylvania’s strengths – our energy, our workforce, our technology – work for us.
There’s already a recognition that energy policy must match energy reality. That’s an important start. But unless we clear the path to build, the consequences will keep piling up: higher bills, less reliable service and a lost opportunity to lead.
Let’s fix what’s broken – and finally let Pennsylvania deliver.
View MSC’s presentation from Williamsport HERE.
