Federal Regulators Issue Order Requiring Large-Load Users Pay to Grow Grid

High voltage power lines run along the electrical power grid in West Palm Beach, Fla., on May 16, 2024. Joe Raedle/Getty ImagesFederal regulators have directed the nation’s largest regional electricity transmission organization to link, or “co-locate,” data centers and other industrial users with existing or new power-generating plants in order to speed development, trim infrastructure costs, and require large-load users to pay for expanding the grid.The five-member Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on Dec. 18 unanimously ordered PJM, which delivers electricity to more than 1,100 utilities serving 67 million customers across 12 Mid-Atlantic and Midwest states, to create two new transmission contract types, revise generator interconnection rules, respond within 30 days with options to meet demand, and provide a report detailing “ongoing initiatives to reduce practical and financial barriers … to efficiently connect new large loads” by February 2026.