Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine and a bipartisan group of state governors are demanding that PJM Interconnection take action to address electricity supply and demand issues as new data centers continue to drive up energy costs for customers.
PJM coordinates the movement of wholesale electricity in all or part of 13 states, including Ohio.
DeWine and 12 other state governors signed the “Statement of Principles Regarding PJM” to petition the firm to come up with ways to address supply and demand issues “caused by the expanding data center sector,” according to a media release from the governor’s office. The bid is a joint effort with the White House Domestic Energy Council.
In addition to DeWine, governors of Kentucky, North Carolina, Indiana, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, Illinois, Delaware, Michigan, New Jersey, and Tennessee signed the statement. U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum and U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, who are chairman and vice-chairman, respectively, of the council, also signed the statement.
“Both across the nation and here in Ohio, energy demand is going up as economic development projects are increasing,” DeWine said in a Dec. 16 press release.
“As governor, I support a proactive approach to increase energy supply and to protect consumers from rising costs,” he said. “The principles proposed today will encourage new energy supply to be built in Ohio and the region and ensure data centers pay their own way as they expand.”
Demands outlined in the statement include protecting customers from price increases and providing 15-year price certainty for new energy sources that serve data centers.
Data centers blamed for driving up electricity costs
As data centers are built and expanded, they put a strain on electricity usage. There are 217 data centers in Ohio, with 133 of them in central Ohio. Energy experts say that existing infrastructure can’t keep up with the demand.
Jeff Shields, a PJM spokesperson, has previously told The Dispatch that the company was aware of the disparate impact in pricing on Ohio consumers.
Ohio has been a deregulated state for electricity since 1999 in order to encourage competition. But the deregulation limited electricity generation in the state, which means while Ohio has some power plants, it imports most of its energy from outside the state, namely through the PJM grid.
Reporter Shahid Meighan can be reached at smeighan@dispatch.com, at ShahidMeighan on X, and at shahidthereporter.dispatch.com on Bluesky.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine urges PJM to address electric supply issues
Reporting by Shahid Meighan, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
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