What's Happening in Energy highlights the most interesting findings from public utility commission filings.
Hey there, it's Nat. Happy Friday.
This week:
Subscribe to get these insights delivered straight to your inbox:
What's Happening in Energy — Aug 21
Powered by Halcyon
____
Petition to Decrease Rates linked to Large Loads // Indiana Michigan Power
Indiana Michigan Power (I&M) filed a petition for a multi-year rate plan that would decrease non-fuel base rates for non-large load customers and keep those new rates stable. They call it a “Reduce and Freeze” (RAF) mechanism.
“The proposed revenue allocation achieves the Company’s strategic affordability policy, explained by Company witness Brown, which proposes total non-fuel rate decreases in 2027 and frozen non-fuel rates throughout the remainder of the Multiyear Rate Plan (MYRP) for all customer classes except the new proposed IP Large Load (IP-LL) customer class. For the IP-LL customer class, the Company is proposing to maintain current non-fuel revenue in 2027 and adjust certain rider rates in 2028 and 2029 for these customers. This strategy reflects the Company’s decision to ensure a reduction in rates of 5% for the residential class and a rate decrease for all other customers except the IP-LL customer class. Rates were consequently designed to achieve this policy outcome.”
____
More Rate Decreases from Large Loads // OpenAI // Georgia Power
The Georgia Public Service Commission approved a contract between Georgia Power and OpenAI. Commission staff agreed that the contract meets key requirements like not leaving non-large load customers on the hook for costs incurred to serve large loads. In addition, Georgia Power agreed to increase downward pressure on rates for residential customers by up to $15 in 2029, 2030, and 2031, “to the extent” that this and other large load contracts can recover costs associated with the roughly 10 gigawatts of capacity certified by the Commission in December.
____
The New Texas Timeline for Large Loads // Community Impact Review // ERCOT
ERCOT presented its next steps for Batch Zero verification and its planned community impact review in response to the governor’s order to suspend data center approvals until they respond to the state’s audit. The grid operator will issue requests for information (RFIs) to medium (25-75 megawatt) and large (>75 MW) loads across the state. Here is the timeline for the community impact review:
____
ERCOT Net-metering Arrangements // 60-min vs. 30-min Curtailment Notice // Texas
Powered land developer Hut 8’s subsidiary Silver Basin filed testimony requesting that the Public Utility Commission of Texas give them 60 minutes to curtail its 180 MW load ahead of an energy emergency, instead of ERCOT’s recommended 30 minutes. Silver Basin is proposing to co-locate with a 204 MW solar facility in Pecos County behind a shared point of interconnection.
“I believe the condition's requirement to curtail "within 30 minutes of ERCOT's instruction to West Texas Solar Project II's [Qualified Scheduling Entity] (QSE)" needs to be modified to reflect the operational realities of a large data center complex. Specifically, consistent with recent Commission precedent, ERCOT's recommended Condition should be modified to require that, when practicable, ERCOT must provide at least 60 minutes of notice in advance of ERCOT issuing any curtailment instruction to West Texas Solar's QSE.”
____
New Parallel Study Process for Large Loads // MISO
MISO shared draft language for its proposal to study 250 MW+ large loads in parallel with their associated generation. The proposal is called the “Load Addition Resource Study” or LARS. MISO is requesting feedback by Thursday, September 10, 2026. Track it via Halcyon here and follow the Large Load Working Group here.
They key proposed requirements are:
____
PJM Independent Demand Forecast // Charles River Associates
Last month at PJM’s Load Analysis Subcommittee meeting, Charles River Associates (CRA) presented the assumptions underlying its independent data center demand forecast. CRA reconciled a top-down forecast of constrained demand with a bottom-up forecast of demand at the zonal level. The “top-down” unconstrained and constrained demand projections are on page 6. CRA assumes that AI training demand will plateau in the 2030s and inference will dominate growth.
One of the key constraints on the bottom up forecast: projections of future turbine manufacturing installed capacity (ICAP) growth. In the 2030s, ICAP growth takes off at 10% CAGR.
CRA also cited McCoy Power Reports data for its assumptions that PJM comprises 12% of U.S. gas turbine orders, while the U.S. as a whole represents 42% of the global market as of last year. These data were held static as a key input into projected gas build limits: “U.S. share of global orders and PJM share of U.S. orders are held at 2025 levels to reflect sustained data center-driven demand growth.”
____
Large Load Tariff Rejection // Dakota Electric // Minnesota
Minnesota’s Attorney General recommended the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission reject Dakota Electric’s large load tariff as proposed. The AG recommended the co-op revise the tariff to include exit fees, collateral requirements, clarification that Very Large Customers are not eligible for the Competitive Service Rider (i.e. discounts), and a broader definition of large loads that include “system intensive” customers. Track the docket here to see how Dakota Electric responds.
____
New IRP Coming Soon // DTE Electric // Michigan
In Michigan, DTE Electric filed a notice that it intends to file its 2026 Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) “on or about” September 24, 2026. The utility will also file its Clean Energy Plan and applications for Certificates of Convenience and Necessity (CCNs) to build two new combined cycle gas plants: one 700 megawatt and one 1,400 megawatt. Set an alert on the docket here by clicking “Create alert” in the top right.
____
CEC Data Center Forecast Discussion // Load Shapes // California
Last week, we shared a visual from the California Energy Commission (CEC) that showed how they trim data centers from their demand forecast based on their development stage. This week, we have a rich transcript of an exchange between stakeholders at a Commission workshop discussing these assumptions. One quote from a PG&E representative indicates that the utility is still deciding how to model the load shapes of data centers:
“PG&E does have a good database now on our existing data centers. We're able to analyze daily load shapes, and so we've started to do that analysis. This is something that we would like to do more in future forecasting cycles upon our preliminary analysis, we found that there were actually more anomalies in daily load shapes than we might have anticipated. So something that we're keeping an eye on, and again, like, want to increase the robustness of that analysis.”
____
WEIM to EDAM // CAISO // Utah
CAISO briefed the Utah Public Service Commission on its progress implementing the Extended Day-Ahead Market (EDAM) across the west. EDAM would allow participating utilities to procure energy and ancillary services in a day-ahead market, in addition to the current Western Energy Imbalance Market, which western utilities have used to secure real-time reserves for over a decade. According to a chart from CAISO, cumulative savings from WEIM have reached $9.08 billion. Savings hit an inflection point in the early 2020s.
____
New Market Design Initiative of the Week
In SPP, comments are flowing in on Revision Request 807, which would impact how Energy Storage Resources (ESRs) would participate in the market. It would, among other things, eliminate the requirement that ESRs only charge during off-peak times, and require ESRs to secure firm transmission capacity before becoming “Designated Network Resources” (DNRs). Resources designated as DNRs are non-interruptible, so purchasers of their energy must have firm transmission capacity. Since batteries must charge from the grid, they must also have firm transmission rights. To argue for requiring ESRs to secure firm transmission to become DNRs, SPP included the following image with an example of a 100 MW ESR without firm transmission.
Here's the initiative timeline:
Excerpt(s) of the Week
IMM vs. PJM // Reliability Backstop Procurement
Monitoring Analytics, PJM’s Independent Market Monitor (IMM), filed a protest in the FERC docket to establish the Reliability Backstop Procurement (RBP) framework. The IMM is not happy:
“PJM’s current approach to addressing data center load is not just and reasonable, as demonstrated by the results of the last four Base Residual Auctions. It is not the fundamentals of the capacity market design that are at issue. It is not the fundamentals of the energy market design that are at issue. It is the fact that PJM is currently allowing the rapid interconnection of large data center loads without having the capacity to serve those loads that makes the current PJM application of the rules unjust and unreasonable. The Market Monitor has demonstrated that PJM’s approach has created a massive financial burden on all PJM customers.”
Most clicked item from last week’s WHiE