William Fields, deputy people's counsel for the Maryland Office of People's Counsel, told the Prince George's County Data Center Task Force that rapid data center growth reported in PJM forecasts is altering transmission planning and wholesale market outcomes in ways that will affect retail electric bills in Maryland.

Fields summarized PJM's role as the regional transmission organization and said large, proposed data center loads that utilities have reported to PJM are already driving new transmission projects and higher capacity-market prices. "PJM does not control electricity rates. Rates are controlled by state regulators like the Maryland Public Service Commission," Fields said, adding that coordination between state regulators and consumer advocates is needed to address rising costs.

Why it matters: Task-force members heard that transmission projects now under review for the PJM region could total billions of dollars and that, under current FERC allocation rules, roughly $500 million of some recent project estimates could be allocated to Maryland ratepayers. Fields said the Office of People's Counsel is challenging the allocation and that those transmission costs will appear in customer bills as projects enter service.

Key facts and analysis: Fields described three ways new data center load can affect customer bills: (1) transmission project costs allocated regionally and recovered over decades, (2) capacity-market auction results that set forward commitments and recently raised wholesale capacity costs that rolled into retail bills, and (3) energy-market prices and standard-offer-service procurement that reflect regional supply–demand conditions. He noted timing differences between wholesale decisions and retail billing—capacity auction results can be set years in advance and later show up on customers' bills.

Fields presented policy options being discussed in stakeholder forums and before federal regulators. One prominent approach advanced by the Office of People's Counsel is often called "bring your own generation" (BYOG or BYOC), which would require or strongly incentivize large new loads to pair with new generation in the same local area so the load does not force other customers to pay for remote transmission projects or to shoulder increased market prices. Fields said the design of any BYOG rule is unsettled and subject to FERC review.

Task-force members asked for clearer, public-facing explanations of the technical material. Several members emphasized the need to study how much of the forecasted load is speculative and whether reporting rules should require stronger commitments (for example, financial guarantees) before PJM accepts large-load entries into its official forecast.

Quotes from the record: "PJM does not control electricity rates. Rates are controlled by state regulators like the Maryland Public Service Commission," William Fields said. Mark Scurano of Pepco added during Q&A that "when any large load customer comes on board, they become a customer, a paying customer into the system," underscoring the link between a new customer's payments and the analysis of who ultimately bears infrastructure costs.

What's next: Fields said the Next Generation Act (2025) requires utilities to file data-center tariffs in Maryland and that filings are due by Sept. 1, 2026, with a narrower set of rules to be discussed at the Public Service Commission in December. The Office of People's Counsel will continue to press allocation issues at FERC and in PJM stakeholder processes.

Ending: The task force did not adopt any formal policy at the meeting; members asked staff to incorporate the technical briefing into the study appendix and to pursue clearer public materials on how new large loads affect bills.