Electricity costs for Ohio manufacturers remain under pressure after PJM Interconnection’s latest capacity auction produced another round of historically high prices. A new analysis prepared by the Ohio Manufacturers’ Association’s (OMA) energy engineering consultant, RunnerStone, shows capacity prices for power delivered in summer 2027 rose again to $333.44 per megawatt-day, pushing total regional costs to an estimated $16.4 billion.

OMA has been actively raising concerns about PJM’s market design and planning decisions, including in a July 2025 letter to the PJM Board calling for greater transparency, realistic load forecasting and reforms to restore effective market signals. That advocacy aligns closely with the findings in the new RunnerStone memo. Additionally, just last month OMA again called for changes at PJM following the release of capacity auction results.

The new analysis points to a series of PJM decisions that continue to tighten supply on paper while failing to deliver meaningful new generation. Those include delayed and compressed auction schedules, a multi-year pause on new generation entering PJM’s interconnection queue, higher reserve margin targets and additional derating of existing resources. Together, these factors limit the market’s ability to respond to price signals and place upward pressure on costs.

The memo also raises fresh questions about load forecasts, particularly large adjustments tied to projected data center demand. RunnerStone notes that these forecasts play a significant role in driving auction outcomes, yet transparency around assumptions and methodologies remains limited. For manufacturers, the result is higher and more uncertain electricity costs, with little clarity on whether the system is becoming more reliable or simply more expensive. 1/8/2026