The PJM capacity charge in plain language: what the auction price is and how to work out a cost
PJM runs an auction for each delivery year, 1 June to 31 May. The RTO-wide price was $329.17 for 2026/27 and $325.00 for 2028/29. PJM's published total cost of the auctions was 14.7 billion dollars for 2025/26 and 16.1 billion for 2026/27. This page shows the published prices for 19 zones, a formula and a calculator for your own obligation. It makes no forecast of any bill. 10 PJM states have a page below.
Every published RTO price, 2007/08 to 2028/29
The auction price was $333.44 per MW-day at its highest (2027/28) and $16.46 at its lowest (2012/13). Delivery years from 2025/26 are highlighted.
US dollars per MW-day, RTO-wide clearing price of the Base Residual Auction
- 4107/08
- 11208/09
- 10209/10
- 17410/11
- 11011/12
- 1612/13
- 2813/14
- 12614/15
- 13615/16
- 5916/17
- 12017/18
- 16518/19
- 10019/20
- 7720/21
- 14021/22
- 5022/23
- 3423/24
- 2924/25
- 27025/26
- 32926/27
- 33327/28
- 32528/29
What the capacity charge is
Capacity is the promise that power plants and demand-response resources will be available when the grid is stressed. PJM buys it in an auction and the cost is divided among the companies that serve customers, in proportion to each customer's share of the zone's peak demand. That share is the customer's capacity obligation, stated in kW.
Retail suppliers and utilities then recover the cost from households in different ways: inside a supply rate, a rider or a fixed monthly amount. The auction price is public. How it lands on a given bill is in your tariff or contract.
All 19 zones by delivery year, $/MW-day
| AEP (AEP) | 140.00 | 50.00 | 34.13 | 28.92 | 269.92 | 329.17 | 333.44 | 325.00 | 11.4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Allegheny Power (APS) (APS) | 140.00 | 50.00 | 34.13 | 28.92 | 269.92 | 329.17 | 333.44 | 325.00 | 11.4 |
| American Transmission Systems (FirstEnergy Ohio and Pennsylvania) (ATSI) | 171.33 | 50.00 | 34.13 | 28.92 | 269.92 | 329.17 | 333.44 | 325.00 | 11.4 |
| Atlantic City Electric (AE) | 165.73 | 97.86 | 49.49 | 53.60 | 269.92 | 329.17 | 333.44 | 325.00 | 6.1 |
| Baltimore Gas and Electric (BGE) | 200.30 | 126.50 | 69.95 | 73.00 | 466.35 | 329.17 | 333.44 | 325.00 | 4.5 |
| Commonwealth Edison (COMED) | 195.55 | 68.96 | 34.13 | 28.92 | 269.92 | 329.17 | 333.44 | 325.00 | 11.4 |
| Dayton (AES Ohio) (DAYTON) | 140.00 | 50.00 | 34.13 | 28.92 | 269.92 | 329.17 | 333.44 | 325.00 | 11.4 |
| Delmarva Power (DPL) | 165.73 | 97.86 | 55.48 | 164.37 | 269.92 | 329.17 | 333.44 | 325.00 | 2.0 |
| Dominion (DOM) | 140.00 | 50.00 | 34.13 | 28.92 | 444.26 | 329.17 | 333.44 | 325.00 | 11.4 |
| Duke Energy Ohio and Kentucky (DEOK) | 140.00 | 71.69 | 34.13 | 96.24 | 269.92 | 329.17 | 333.44 | 325.00 | 3.4 |
| Duquesne Light (DLCO) | 140.00 | 50.00 | 34.13 | 28.92 | 269.92 | 329.17 | 333.44 | 325.00 | 11.4 |
| East Kentucky Power Cooperative (EKPC) | 140.00 | 50.00 | 34.13 | 28.92 | 269.92 | 329.17 | 333.44 | 325.00 | 11.4 |
| Jersey Central Power and Light (JCPL) | 165.73 | 97.86 | 49.49 | 53.60 | 269.92 | 329.17 | 333.44 | 325.00 | 6.1 |
| Met-Ed (METED) | 140.00 | 95.79 | 49.49 | 49.49 | 269.92 | 329.17 | 333.44 | 325.00 | 6.7 |
| PECO (PECO) | 165.73 | 97.86 | 49.49 | 53.60 | 269.92 | 329.17 | 333.44 | 325.00 | 6.1 |
| PPL Electric (PL) | 140.00 | 95.79 | 49.49 | 49.49 | 269.92 | 329.17 | 333.44 | 325.00 | 6.7 |
| Penelec (PENLC) | 140.00 | 95.79 | 49.49 | 49.49 | 269.92 | 329.17 | 333.44 | 325.00 | 6.7 |
| Pepco (PEPCO) | 140.00 | 95.79 | 49.49 | 49.49 | 269.92 | 329.17 | 333.44 | 325.00 | 6.7 |
| Public Service Electric and Gas (PS) | 204.29 | 97.86 | 49.49 | 53.60 | 269.92 | 329.17 | 333.44 | 325.00 | 6.1 |
Click a header to sort. From 2026/27 every zone clears at the same price. Download: CSV with $/MW-day and $/kW-year.
Auction parameters and published totals
PJM's result workbooks list the reserve margin (IRM), the forecast pool requirement (FPR) and, from 2025/26, a total cost. The 2025/26 workbook is the first to carry a pool-wide accredited UCAP factor, and its FPR is lower than earlier years, so compare the parameters only within 2025/26 onward.
| Delivery year | RTO price, $/MW-day | RTO obligation, MW | IRM | FPR | Published cost, $ billion | Days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021/22 | $140.00 | 163,627 | 15.8% | 1.0898 | not in our files | 365 |
| 2022/23 | $50.00 | 144,477 | 14.5% | 1.0868 | not in our files | 365 |
| 2023/24 | $34.13 | 144,871 | 14.8% | 1.0901 | not in our files | 366 |
| 2024/25 | $28.92 | 147,477 | 14.7% | 1.0894 | not in our files | 365 |
| 2025/26 | $269.92 | 135,684 | 17.8% | 0.9387 | 14.69 | 365 |
| 2026/27 | $329.17 | 134,205 | 19.1% | 0.9170 | 16.12 | 365 |
| 2027/28 | $333.44 | 134,478 | 20.0% | 0.9260 | 16.41 | 366 |
| 2028/29 | $325.00 | 138,318 | 20.0% | 0.9401 | 16.41 | 365 |
Work out a capacity cost
- Loading prices.
Which states we cover
10 states have a page: at least 100,000 homes in utilities we could place in a PJM zone. The map is ours: investor-owned utilities and the 16 East Kentucky Power member cooperatives, matched to the zone name by company, with customers from EIA-861 2024. FirstEnergy Pennsylvania spans four zones and is not split. Rockland Electric (New Jersey) has no zone in our data and is left out.
| State | Zones | Homes mapped | Share of state's homes | Page |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delaware | DPL | 301,950 | 66% | page |
| District of Columbia | PEPCO | 318,780 | 100% | page |
| Illinois | COMED | 3,727,675 | 71% | page |
| Indiana | AEP | 422,062 | 15% | no page: under 100,000 homes mapped |
| Kentucky | AEP, DEOK, EKPC | 807,637 | 39% | page |
| Maryland | APS, BGE, DPL, PEPCO | 2,210,643 | 90% | page |
| Michigan | AEP | 112,600 | 3% | no page: under 100,000 homes mapped |
| New Jersey | AE, JCPL, PS | 3,600,977 | 98% | page |
| New York | APS, ATSI, METED, PENLC | 3,400 | 0% | no page: under 100,000 homes mapped |
| North Carolina | DOM | 108,656 | 2% | no page: under 100,000 homes mapped |
| Ohio | AEP, ATSI, DAYTON, DEOK | 4,424,100 | 89% | page |
| Pennsylvania | APS, ATSI, DLCO, METED, PECO, PL, PENLC | 5,184,718 | 95% | page |
| Tennessee | AEP, EKPC | 43,389 | 1% | no page: under 100,000 homes mapped |
| Virginia | AEP, DOM | 2,848,831 | 79% | page |
| West Virginia | AEP, APS | 853,192 | 100% | page |
How we calculate it
Prices are PJM's Base Residual Auction results, in dollars per MW-day, from the result workbook of each delivery year and from PJM's summary of all auctions; the two agree for the RTO price in every year. A zone's price is the resource clearing price of the most specific area that contains it: the area price when the zone has its own, otherwise the RTO price. Public Service (PS), Delmarva (DPL) and ATSI add the zonal adder from PJM's calculation sheet to the reference area price. For 2025/26 onward we checked every zone against PJM's pricing points sheet, and the script stops on any mismatch. PJM's final zonal net load price also has a small credit adjustment that we do not apply.
Formula: annual cost = obligation in kW x price in $/MW-day x days in the delivery year / 1,000. Days run from 1 June to 31 May (365 or 366). Monthly cost is the annual cost divided by 12. Cents per kWh is the annual cost divided by 12 times monthly kWh, times 100.
Not shown: forecasts, supplier markups, or what your own bill will be. The delivery years from 2026/27 are results of auctions already held, not estimates.
Browse by state
Sources
Publisher: PJM Interconnection, Reliability Pricing Model (RPM) Base Residual Auction results, pjm.com. Files downloaded on 2026-10-07; checksums below are SHA-256 of the files we read.
| Delivery year | PJM file | SHA-256 (first 12) |
|---|---|---|
| 2021/22 | 2021-2022-base-residual-auction-results.xlsx | 31a63f6eb562 |
| 2022/23 | 2022-2023-base-residual-auction-results.xlsx | 2db620e38cdd |
| 2023/24 | 2023-2024-base-residual-auction-results.xlsx | b0df35260ac4 |
| 2024/25 | 2024-2025-base-residual-auction-results.xlsx | 7b6b9666604f |
| 2025/26 | 2025-2026-base-residual-auction-results.xlsx | c36f85889b2f |
| 2026/27 | 2026-2027-bra-results.xlsx | 64437bca6b42 |
| 2027/28 | 2027-2028-bra-results.xlsx | 9d952a585182 |
| 2028/29 | 2028-2029-bra-results.xlsx | 3b2acecef290 |
| 2007/08 to 2028/29 | rpm-auctions-resource-clearing-price-summary.xlsx | a3085c23f498 |
Customers: EIA Form EIA-861, 2024 data (Sales to Ultimate Customers, residential, wires view). Downloads: prices by zone and year (CSV), utility-to-zone map (CSV). Method on the hub page.
Questions
What is the PJM capacity charge?
The cost of the capacity auction, charged to the companies that serve customers by their share of peak demand. The RTO price was $28.92 per MW-day for 2024/25 and $269.92 for 2025/26.
Does a higher auction price mean a higher bill?
Not by a formula we can give. The auction price is a wholesale input; supplier contracts, utility riders and timing decide what a household pays, so this site publishes the price and the arithmetic, not a bill.
Why do zones have different prices before 2026/27?
Some zones cleared separately because transmission limits kept their capacity local. In 2024/25 the zone prices ran from $28.92 to $164.37; from 2026/27 they are all $329.17.
Which utilities are in which zone?
Our map assigns investor-owned utilities and the East Kentucky Power member cooperatives; the full list is in the CSV on this page. Your tariff names the zone for your account.
Where do the numbers come from?
PJM's published Base Residual Auction result workbooks, downloaded 2026-10-07, with checksums in the sources table.