Gov Shapiro Remarks Securing Fed Support Extend PJM Price Cap Protect Consumers | Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

Washington, D.C. - Today, Governor Josh Shapiro signed a Statement of Principles alongside a bipartisan group of PJM governors, U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, and U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum to extend Pennsylvania's PJM price cap and protect consumers from rising electricity costs.

The agreement advances reforms to build more energy faster while keeping costs down and extends the price cap Governor Shapiro secured after suing PJM for two additional capacity auctions - a move expected to save consumers up to $27 billion and prevent price hikes across 13 states.

Governor Shapiro has led the push for PJM reform for more than two years, taking action when PJM failed to act and delivering consumer protections that are now shaping the national response.

See below for Governor Shapiro's remarks as prepared for delivery:

Thank you, Secretary Burgum and Secretary Wright, for hosting us here today.

And thank you to my fellow Governors - Governors Moore and Youngkin - for your partnership in working to reform PJM and force them to cancel dramatic energy hikes over the past three years.

I'm glad that Governors on a bipartisan basis are leading the way and getting stuff done - because our collective work helped spur this action by the federal government.

Look, I hear it everyday: hardworking folks across the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania are worried about rising costs right now. I know my colleagues hear it too.

Trips to the grocery store and visits to the doctor cost more these days - and too many families and small businesses are struggling to make ends meet.

In Pennsylvania, we are laser focused on cutting costs - that's why we've cut taxes seven times since I've been Governor.

And I've worked hard to make sure families have peace of mind knowing that they can afford to keep the lights on at home - and that we have reliable, affordable power when they go to flip that light switch.

Unfortunately, PJM has been too slow to let new generation onto the grid at a time when demand for energy is going up.

That's led to dramatically increasing prices in PJM's capacity auctions year after year - which means higher energy bills for consumers.

That's unacceptable.

And, as we are showing here today, it doesn't have to be this way.

18 months ago, when I learned PJM's proposed prices for the next capacity auction would be the highest ever, I immediately objected.

I spent months working behind the scenes with PJM leaders to try and find a different path forward - one that spared ratepayers unnecessary rate hikes and did more to bring new power plants online faster.

PJM refused to budge and so when we couldn't come to an agreement, I sued them with the backing of my colleagues.

Because of that lawsuit, we reached an agreement with PJM that staved off the kind of price increases they were talking about and instituted a 2-year price cap.

That price cap has saved consumers in the PJM grid over $18 billion already.

And in our productive work with them, I was insistent that an extension of our price cap be included in this statement of principles we're signing today.

As a result, we're going to save consumers in the PJM grid - 65 million Americans - an additional $27 billion over the next several years.

Now, I want to be very clear, even as we work to protect consumers, I also know that we need to bring more affordable power online. More power means more freedom and more opportunity.

We can do that by working with large data center developers - like Amazon, who I stood with last summer to announce the largest private sector investment in Pennsylvania - and protecting our consumers.

I think it can be a both/and - not just either/or.

We've sped up permitting to get big energy projects off the ground in Pennsylvania.

I've pushed PJM to do their part and expedite the interconnection of these new sources of energy - including the Crane Clean Energy Center, which will be ready to connect to the grid a year earlier than originally expected because of our work.

But we need more generation, and these principles will help get more energy on the grid.

Pennsylvania is the second largest energy producer in the entire country, and I'm an all-of-the-above energy Governor.

We need more energy on the grid - and we need it fast.

In Pennsylvania, I've launched the Lightning Plan to build more power in the Commonwealth, connect producers to the grid faster, create good-paying jobs, and prevent price hikes.

The statement of principles we're about to sign today complements that work - and I'm grateful to my fellow Governors, who have been leading the way on energy affordability for years.

I'm glad the White House has joined us in this fight to push PJM to lower costs for consumers and deliver reliable, affordable energy for all.

Thank you.

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