Maryland citizens slapped with $2 billion power grid upgrade bill for out-of-state AI data centers — state complains to federal energy regulators, says additional cost breaks ‘ratepayer protection ple

Key Points:

• The Maryland Office of People’s Counsel (OPC) filed a complaint with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) challenging PJM Interconnection’s plan to charge Maryland consumers $2 billion of a $22 billion grid upgrade cost aimed at accommodating data center demand.
• The OPC estimates this charge will cost Maryland consumers an additional $1.6 billion over the next decade, with significant impacts on residential, commercial, and industrial customers.
• Maryland argues that PJM’s cost allocation unfairly burdens its ratepayers, as the state’s data center growth is lower compared to other states like Virginia and Ohio, meaning Maryland customers would subsidize upgrades benefiting other regions.
• The OPC advocates for charging infrastructure costs directly to the areas where projects are built or billing the data centers themselves, citing uncertainty about actual demand growth and concerns that utility customers currently bear the financial risk.
• PJM Interconnection serves 13 states and Washington, D.C., covering about 20% of the U.S. population, and is upgrading its grid primarily to meet increasing power demands from data centers, including those supporting AI systems.