HD Intelligence Desk · October 19, 2026

PJM Posts the Revised Backstop. The Bid Window Moves to March 2027

Published October 19, 2026

What Happened

On October 12, 2026, PJM served a motion for abeyance in Docket Nos. ER26-3380-000 and EL26-108-000, posted October 13 as accession 20261013-5141. The motion asks FERC to hold the Reliability Backstop Procurement paper hearing in abeyance, states that a new section 205 filing will follow by October 29, and schedules a special Members Committee and Transmission Owners consultation for October 22. On October 15, PJM posted the redlines for that consultation. The redlines change the definition so the one-time procurement starts in 2027, recalculate the Initial RBP Target from the latest 2028/2029 reliability requirement, load forecast, and accreditation factors at commencement, allocate the target by each Electric Distributor zone's pro-rata share of incremental Large Load the distributor reports, replace the $1.5 million credit rate with 40 percent of the discounted total RBP payment obligation per MW, and leave an exiting load-serving entity responsible for the remainder of its RBP charges, subject to a rate filing.

Why It Matters

We hold PJM at D. Time-to-power is 35% of the grade: the 2027/2028 Base Residual Auction cleared 6,623 MW short of the reliability requirement, the 2028/2029 auction cleared 6,831 MW short, and the September 29 order still suspends Reliability Backstop Procurement to February 28, 2027. The consultation slides put the bid window at March 1 through March 22, 2027, with results posted May 3. Trend stays down. The same shock is not cut twice.

The rest of the board

TCEQ's news-release page lists no October 19 update on the data-center permit pause. Governor Abbott's September 21 letter required that update to his office by October 19 and ties permit issuance to completion of ERCOT's review. We hold ERCOT at A-. The energization freeze still binds through the December 10 audit. Trend stays down. MISO filed an answer on October 13 in Docket No. ER26-3650, accession 20261013-5440. The docket sheet from October 12 through October 19 shows that answer and no order. The August 28 filing still requests a December 4 effective date. That is process, not reserve margin. Hold C. CAISO comments on the large-load draft final proposal and draft tariff language were due October 15. The ISO posted the letters on October 16, including the California Public Utilities Commission, Google, Microsoft, Southern California Edison, and Pacific Gas and Electric. The October 19 draft-tariff presentation still sets Board of Governors consideration for October 28 and section 205 filings for November 16. Hold C+.

Sources

  1. 01Motion for Abeyance, Docket Nos. ER26-3380-000 and EL26-108-000 — PJM Interconnection, Oct 12 2026
  2. 02eLibrary accession 20261013-5141, Motion for Abeyance — FERC, posted Oct 13 2026
  3. 03Special Members Committee agenda, October 22 meeting — PJM, Oct 15 2026
  4. 04Tariff Section 9.2(b) consultation on the Reliability Backstop Procurement section 205 filing — PJM, posted Oct 15 2026
  5. 05Reliability Backstop Procurement tariff redlines, special Members Committee — PJM, posted Oct 15 2026
  6. 06Order Accepting Reliability Backstop Procurement and Establishing Further Procedures, 196 FERC ¶ 61,245 — FERC, Sep 29 2026
  7. 07Letter from Governor Greg Abbott to TCEQ Executive Director Kelly Keel — Office of the Governor, Sep 21 2026
  8. 08News releases — Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, checked Oct 19 2026
  9. 09eLibrary accession 20261013-5440, Motion for Leave to Answer and Answer — MISO, Oct 13 2026
  10. 10Docket sheet, ER26-3650, filed Oct 12–19 2026 — FERC eLibrary
  11. 11Interconnection Reliability Requirements for Large Loads, effective date requested Dec 4 2026 — MISO, accession 20260828-5278, Aug 28 2026
  12. 12Presentation, Large Loads Order to Show Cause draft tariff language — California ISO, Oct 19 2026 meeting, posted Oct 16 2026
  13. 13Recent documents, Large Loads comments posted Oct 16 2026 — California ISO