Due to unusually high autumn temperatures causing an increase in energy demand, PJM Interconnection, the largest energy grid operator in the United States, issued a Capacity Advisory, Maximum Generation Alert and Load Management Alert for Oct. 13. In light of this, the organization requested and received a combined emergency order from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) effective through Oct. 16.
Usually, the rest of the year following mid-September is considered the fall shoulder period, when mild temperatures call for lower energy usage compared to peak winter and summer periods. During this time, generation and transmission owners can schedule outages for maintenance and upgrades, but due to the recently issued alerts, PJM issued a recall for these disruptions, effective at noon on Oct. 14, so that energy would still be available during this time of strain.
“The conditions we have seen in both September and October reflect the reality that PJM and other grid operators are facing: increased baseload electricity demand is growing faster than new capacity can come onto the system; and unpredictable weather patterns are providing fewer days to perform important maintenance or construction on the generation and transmission equipment serving our footprint,” PJM wrote in a statement to The Informer.
September 2026 was the warmest recorded to date in the U.S. since 1895, averaging 69.4°F, which is 1.5°F higher than September 2025. It is the fourth month in 2026 to be the warmest on record alongside March, July and August. According to the August 2026 Market Monitor Report presented to PJM Members, average peak consumption increased by 2.2% in the first seven months of 2026 compared to the same window in 2025.
“This is the new reality that grid operators are facing, but PJM is confident that our procedures, along with the DOE orders, gives us additional tools to maintain our reserve margins and allow us to operate reliably,” the grid operator’s statement continued.
Even though announcements of an energy grid emergency could cause anxiety about potential future widespread blackouts, the measures taken by PJM and DOE have been put in place to prevent such drastic events.
For example, the Capacity Advisory is the first of its kind under new emergency procedures endorsed by PJM Members in June 2026. It was implemented for times when projected and operating conditions reveal an imminent capacity shortfall, providing advance notice to Members of times when generation is anticipated to reach its maximum demand requirement. Such a procedure warns Members and distributors of maintenance outage recalls, potential decreases in imports from PJM and advises them to update information about generation availability, fuel supply concerns and environmental constraints.
Similarly, the DOE 202c order permits PJM to manage these emergency conditions with more flexibility by providing temporary relief from environmental permit restrictions for generating units and, if necessary, allows the grid operator to instruct data centers and other Large Load customers to use their backup generation systems. It also authorizes PJM to use backup generation as a last resort before declaring an Energy Emergency Alert 3, which is when available supply reaches critically low levels. DOE estimates approximately 35 gigawatts of unused backup generation are available nationwide.
“This order will help ensure millions of American families and businesses across the mid-Atlantic have access to affordable, reliable and secure electricity by making additional power generation, including backup power, available to use as needed,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright.
Protecting Customers, Calling for Change
High demand on the grid, intensified by increased data center construction, is raising the supply costs for energy distributors, which affects utility prices for everyday consumers.
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s October Short-Term Energy Outlook, wholesale prices in PJM territory are predicted to increase by 41% in 2026 compared to 2025. Households in the District saw a 7% increase in utility bill rates at the beginning of July 2026, per the Public Service Commission of the District of Columbia (DCPSC).
To combat surging rates and prevent outages, corporations like Exelon have come up with incentives like the Exelon Promise to provide customers of their utilities with aid and relief. The corporation owns the following natural gas transmission and utility distribution companies: Atlantic City Electric (ACE) in southern New Jersey, Baltimore Gas and Electric (BGE), Commonwealth Edison (ComEd) in northern Illinois, Delmarva Power and Light (DPL) in Maryland’s Eastern Shore and Delaware, PECO Energy Company (PECO) in southeastern Pennsylvania, and Potomac Electric Power Company (PEPCO) in Washington and parts of Maryland.
“Affordability is at the beginning and end of every conversation we have,” said Calvin Butler, the president and CEO of Exolon, on Sept. 17 at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s (CBCF) 55th Annual Legislative Conference. “Affordability can’t be in the conversation by itself. It has to be affordability, reliability [and] economic development… but I know customers don’t care about any of that if they can’t afford to pay that bill, so it has to be an all-of-the-above approach.”
As part of the initiative, Exelon and its operating companies have collaborated with local non-profits to deliver $60 million in relief funding to struggling families and businesses. This fund prioritizes families who qualify for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and similar assistance programs. The corporation is also exploring smart battery storage solutions to help with affordability by capturing excess power and using it during peak times. It also advocates for utility-generated power to help stabilize rates and reliability over time.
“In PJM, the market that we’re in, we are generation short; We have a lack of supply, and anytime you have a high demand, prices go up,” Butler said. “We have to do something different, and we believe utilities should be allowed to get back into the game of generation to help drive down these costs.”
For the time being, PJM and its collaborators are working to deal with the emergency at hand by using mitigation protocols that will keep as much energy available on the grid as possible. However, as the planet warms and causes unprecedented circumstances, experts note that innovation and collaboration are crucial to the grid’s reliability and longevity.
“Planned maintenance season will continue to present risks that we formerly faced only in summer and winter,” PJM wrote in a statement to The Informer. “PJM is working with state and federal policymakers to address these conditions by increasing supply on multiple fronts, including speeding the connection of new electricity supply and removing state permitting barriers that are outside of PJM’s jurisdiction.”
