Transmission Cost Allocation

Rules governing who pays for transmission infrastructure upgrades, set by FERC and implemented by RTOs/ISOs in their tariffs.

PJM Schedule 12 (RTEP)

• Baseline Regional Transmission Expansion Plan upgrades are socialized across broad ratepayer zones regardless of which loads triggered them.
• Designed for gradual, distributed load growth — not concentrated hyperscaler demand.
• Under challenge via Maryland OPC's Federal Power Act Section 206 complaint (2026), arguing socialization is unjust when identifiable large loads drive costs.

Oregon Model

• Oregon PUC approved a dedicated data center rate class for Portland General Electric.
• Ring-fences capacity charges, transmission riders, and demand-related costs to the load class creating them.
• Seen as a replicable precedent for other state PUCs.

Implications for Energy Markets

• Shifts economic assumptions for hyperscaler site selection and project-finance underwriting.
• Puts pressure on long-term-energy-contracting / VPPA structures that assumed socialized grid costs.
• Intersects with interconnection-queue reform: supply-side bottlenecks addressed; demand-side cost accountability is next.

Key Regulatory Lever

FERC Section 206 allows any party to challenge existing rates as unjust or unreasonable, triggering a formal proceeding.