What did the Pennsylvania commission propose?
The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission voted 4 to 0 on October 1, 2026 to seek public comment on new emergency rules for very large power users. PUC press release The commission sets the rules that the state’s electric utilities must follow. Its draft order would make every utility rewrite its emergency plan so that certain AI data centers lose power before homes, hospitals and other customers when supply runs short. Draft order
The draft is built around PJM, the company that runs the regional power grid serving Pennsylvania and 12 other states. PJM has asked federal regulators to approve a new service for supply shortages. Under that service, large new users that have not brought their own power supply would be cut before PJM asks anyone else to reduce. Each utility would also keep a list of its large users and share it with PJM and, once a year, with the commission.
Pennsylvania’s governor asked the commission for this result in an August 18 executive order. Governor’s office
Which sites the draft rule covers
The draft calls the covered facilities computational load sites. A computational load site is a building filled mainly with computer equipment used for work such as running software, training AI or mining cryptocurrency. To be covered, it must expect to draw 25 megawatts at one connection, or 50 megawatts across several connections on one local power line. A megawatt measures how much power a site pulls from the grid at one moment. Factories are excluded.
That 25 megawatt threshold is half the 50 megawatt threshold in the model service rules for large users that the commission adopted in April. Final order As a result, smaller AI data centers that fall outside the April rules could still be covered by this one.
What would a developer have to accept in its service terms?
A developer’s exposure grows as grid trouble gets worse. In the mildest case, before a declared emergency, a utility could cut only those sites that PJM’s new shortage service applies to, under mandatory interruption terms. In a declared emergency, cuts could reach every covered site. If utilities must start shutting off ordinary customers, every site that is not critical load goes before critical load. Critical load means customers shielded from cuts, such as hospitals, fire stations and homes.
The draft places computational load sites outside the top and bottom protected groups. A site can earn middle protection only if it has an uninterruptible power supply. That is a battery and generator system that takes over almost instantly when grid power fails. Even then, protection covers only the power the site uses to serve a hospital or similar customer in real time. It applies only after the site’s own backup fails, runs out of fuel or hits its state permit limits.
To claim that protection, the developer must prove the backup is big enough for the critical work and file a fuel plan. The hospital or other protected customer must confirm in writing that a contract ties it to the site. The critical equipment must be wired apart from the rest of the site, and the utility can inspect it every year. For any site built with this kind of backup, that separate wiring is a condition of getting connected at all. Utilities could also make the developer pay for extra metering.
| What changes | Under the current rule | Under the draft |
|---|---|---|
| Who gets cut first | Each utility set its own priority list | New computing sites without their own supply go first |
| AI data centers as critical load | The rule did not address it | Never in the top or bottom protected groups |
| Backup power at computing sites | Not addressed | Must be wired separately and inspected yearly |
| Warning to customers before cuts | No customer notice rule | Notice when possible, then a report to the commission |
| Where the emergency plan is kept | On file at the utility’s office | In the utility’s service rules and on its website |
The current rule leaves the order of cuts to each utility’s own plan. Current rule
When comments are due
Comments are due 30 days after the draft order is printed in the Pennsylvania Bulletin, the state’s official register. Reply comments are due 15 days after that. The commission directed that the order be sent for printing, and the comment period starts when it is printed. Draft order
The commission plans to vote on a final order at its January 28, 2027 meeting. That order would direct utilities to file their updated emergency plans, and a formal rulemaking may follow. The draft does not decide how sites would be paid when they are cut. The commission left that question for a later proceeding after a technical conference on November 17, 2026. Draft order
Tomorrow’s topic
FERC’s order sending PJM’s AI data center backstop plan back for revision.