FERC Holds in Abeyance for 90 Days Its Show-Cause Proceeding on Whether PJM's Tariff Remains Just and Reasonable Without Certain Provisions Addressing Large Loads and Co-Located Loads

On June 18, 2026, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission started a show-cause proceeding against PJM Interconnection and the Transmission Owners. FERC's letter order of August 14, 2026, in Docket No. EL26-67-000, says that order directed them to explain why PJM's tariff "remains just and reasonable and not unduly discriminatory or preferential without certain Tariff provisions" addressing large loads and co-located loads, or to propose tariff revisions addressing FERC's concerns. Responses had been due on August 17, 2026. The August order changed that. Parts of it follow, not the whole.

Three Motions to Wait

PJM and a group of transmission owners each filed a motion on July 28, 2026, and another company filed one on August 3, asking FERC to hold the proceeding in abeyance, in full, for 90 days. Each asked to wait "pending completion of PJM's stakeholder proceedings" and the submittal of one or more filings under section 205 of the Federal Power Act to address FERC's preliminary findings in the show-cause order. The show-cause order had allowed such requests, if they included "a robust description of the content of a potential future filing" and "a reasoned and specific explanation of when such a filing is expected to be made."

PJM described its intended filing as a proposal that delivers faster and more flexible processes. Among other things, it would "provide new transmission services for flexible large loads, building upon the work that has already been done and will be finalized regarding co-located load," and "enhance study processes especially for generating facilities that serve electrically proximate large loads." PJM said it had scheduled or would schedule stakeholder engagement sessions, the order says, with the goal of an advisory stakeholder vote on the proposal at the Members Committee meeting on October 28, 2026.

The group of transmission owners said they anticipate that their own filing will include "pro forma cost recovery agreements and rates for new transmission services for flexible large loads and electrically proximate large loads or co-located loads," and "any financial penalties applied to customers that fail to meet their contractual service limits with respect to any new transmission services."

The Order

FERC granted all three motions and held the proceeding in abeyance, in full, for 90 days. The order made responses to the show-cause order due on November 16, 2026, and answers to them due on December 16, 2026. PJM and the group of transmission owners had said they intend to make their filings "by early/mid-November 2026 and no later than November 16, 2026, respectively."

If PJM or the transmission owners submit a section 205 filing addressing the preliminary findings on or before November 16, the order says, the obligation of whoever filed it to respond to the show-cause order will be suspended, and the proceeding will continue in abeyance pending further direction from FERC. Where they intend to ask that the proceeding be terminated if FERC accepts their filing, it encourages them to explain, with specificity, which of their proposed revisions they believe resolve all or some of the preliminary findings, and whether the show-cause order should be terminated, in full or in part.

On timing, the order says FERC expects the tariff revisions to be implemented "as expeditiously as possible," and encourages an effective date "that takes into account the necessary time to implement the proposed Tariff revisions and accommodate existing commercial arrangements."