Delmarva Power customers could see slightly lower rates for electricity in coming years.
Grid operator PJM Interconnection reported its auction produced higher price for a period from a one-year period beginning in June 2021.
Prices were up from the past auction, due in part to transmission limits.
However, Jacob Sneeden of Delmarva Power said that the rates should reduce electric charges by about $5.20 a month in the one-year period.
The cost of power is passed along by Delmarva at no profit with the company making its return on the costs of delivering the power.
“PJM’s markets continue to retain and attract a diverse set of resources and promote competition to support reliability of the grid,” said PJM CEO Andy Ott. “The high-performing resources participating in our markets ensure that customers have reliable electricity at the lowest reasonable cost.”
The auction attracted a year-to-year increase in the amount of demand response, energy efficiency and renewable resources – solar and wind. Demand response is the use of devices by Delmarva and other utilities that cycle down air-conditioning systems.
PJM saw an increase in coal and natural gas generation from last year, with nuclear generation declining.
PJM reported a healthy reserve of power of 21.5 percent. That will keep a lid on power prices.
Delmarva and other utilities have higher prices than in much of the PJM that includes the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic. Critics have blamed Delaware’s clean energy mandates for higher rates.
