For Immediate Release
Contact:
Madison Jorfi, mjorfi@clearpointpa.com, 717-673-3135
Elowyn Corby, ecorby@votesolar.org, 831-359-2561
Call on Electric Grid Operator PJM to Take Stronger Action, End Long Delay on Adding More Clean Energy Power Sources to Regional Power Grid
As consumers across the region are about to be hit with increases in their electric bills of as much as 25% starting this June, consumer and clean energy advocates from Pennsylvania and New Jersey convened in Philadelphia Wednesday to call on PJM Interconnection, the company that manages the region’s electric grid, to protect consumers and expedite the approval of new clean, cheap, and reliable energy projects waiting to connect to the grid.
Speakers highlighted how PJM’s dysfunctional rules and delays are driving up electricity costs and blocking affordable clean energy projects that can bring down utility bills, create jobs, and make the grid more reliable. PJM’s outdated interconnection approval process has created a massive backlog of approximately 3,000 energy projects – 95% of them clean energy – waiting to connect to the grid.
“We deserved better than the crisis PJM has created, and they have to account for their mismanagement before the damage can no longer be undone,” Kartik Amarnath from NJ Shines and Mid-Atlantic Regulatory Director, Vote Solar said. “PJM must transparently and rapidly fast track the thousands of reliable and affordable renewable energy projects that have been awaiting approval for years. This would be a necessary first step in restoring their reputation as an impartial steward of a wholesale energy market, and not as an exploiter of the people to give undue favor to polluting corporations.”
“Today, prices are rising across the board—especially our energy bills,” said New Jersey Assemblywoman Andrea Katz. “That shouldn’t be happening. While other regions across the country are experiencing explosive growth in clean, affordable, renewable energy, our region is falling behind. Not because we lack resources or innovation but because we’re tangled in red tape and dysfunction. This is a crisis of mismanagement.”
Renewable energy like solar and wind is now cheaper than other energy sources, and combined with energy storage, can deliver power more reliably than ever. But currently, less than 5% of the PJM region’s electricity is powered by cheaper, home-grown renewable energy sources.
“Solar is now the cheapest source of energy—period. Yet PJM continues to prop up expensive and dirty coal, oil and gas, driving up costs and pollution. New Jerseyans deserve affordable, clean energy that protects both our wallets and our lungs,” said Ed Potosnak, Executive Director, New Jersey LCV.
The advocates gathered at the Neighborhood Energy Center in the Hunting Park Neighborhood of Philadelphia, which works with low-income families to help them pay their utility bills and save costs by making their homes more energy efficient.
“If the leadership of PJM cares about the people of Pennsylvania, the workers of Pennsylvania, and the people of Hunting Park, it will embrace the future and fast track its renewable projects, build the clean energy economy we all deserve, create jobs, make people healthier, and keep prices down for everyone,” said Reverend Allen Drew, Eastern Regional Organizer for the Climate Witness Project and director of the Hunting Park Community Solar Initiative.
Liz Robinson, Executive Director of the Philadelphia Solar Energy Association, shared the results of a new independent report from Synapse Energy Economics, conducted for Evergreen Action. It concluded that clearing the backlog of projects waiting to be connected to the grid would drive significant cost-savings and economic growth across the Mid-Atlantic region.
For Pennsylvania, that would result in $500 in annual average household energy savings, 37,500 additional jobs each year across the Commonwealth, and 20% lower electric bills for businesses and industrial customers. In New Jersey, it would mean savings for families of $400 per year on average, 23,000 new jobs, and savings to businesses and industrial customers of 19%. All of this would occur while reducing harmful air pollution across the region.
“Frankly, PJM has failed to fulfill its responsibilities,” concluded Liz Robinson. “Our message is very clear: Do your job. Clean up the queue.”
Speakers also urged state leaders across the PJM region to keep up the pressure on PJM to act. Yesterday, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approved a settlement between PA Governor Josh Shapiro and PJM to limit price hikes that could have hit later this year, saving the PJM region’s 65 million consumers billions of dollars over the next two years. NJ Governor Phil Murphy and NJ legislators have also been pushing back on higher electric prices, with Governor Murphy most recently calling for an investigation of whether market manipulation resulted in higher energy prices that are set to take effect this summer, harming consumers and businesses in New Jersey and the region.
This pressure must continue because long-term solutions are still needed that prevent future price hikes down the road while ensuring a reliable, sustainable electric grid.
Videos of speakers are here: Alex Ambrose, NJ Policy Perspective; Kartik Amarnath, Vote Solar and NJ Shines; Charles Lanier, Hunting Park NAC; Liz Robinson, Philadelphia Solar Energy Association; Rev. Allen Drew, Eastern Regional Organizer for the Climate Witness Project and director of the Hunting Park Community Solar Initiative; Jeaneen Zappa, Keystone Energy Efficiency Alliance (KEEA)/Energy Efficiency Alliance of New Jersey (EEA-NJ).