Eastern US Power Grid Operator Orders Emergency Curbs as Electricity Use Nears Record

Source: US News & World Report

“U.S. power grid operator PJM, ⁠the ⁠nation’s largest covering much of ⁠the East Coast and Midwest, on Friday ordered customers in emergency electricity-reduction ​programs to curb their use, as it battled generator outages, overloaded transmission lines and surging air-conditioning demand during ‌a prolonged heat wave. In an ‌emergency alert, activated in line with utilities’ conservation programs, PJM said the order applied to industrial ⁠and residential ⁠electricity users with contracts that pay them in return for mandatory consumption ​cuts during emergencies. … The power grid ​operator serves 67 million people in the Mid-Atlantic, South and Washington, D.C., areas. Even before this ​week’s heat wave, it ⁠had been straining to overhaul a system pushed to the brink by surging energy demand from data centers and electric vehicles.” (06/03/26)

https://www.usnews.com/news/top-news/articles/2026-07-03/largest-us-power-grid-pjm-escalates-emergency-actions-to-avoid-blackouts