Enabling Reliable, Clean, and Affordable Electricity in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania residents are facing an energy crunch. A new report prepared by Synapse for the Pennsylvania Public Utilities Commission (PA PUC) shows that the regional electric grid that supplies Pennsylvania (operated by the PJM Interconnection) is on a path to be six times less reliable than planned in terms of PJM’s own planning criterion, the loss of load expectation (LOLE). Under a worst-case scenario of high electricity demand and constrained energy supply, Synapse found a LOLE value over 100 times worse than PJM’s planning criterion. The high electricity demand piece of the scenario is due to a large buildout of data centers in the region. While ending data center buildout from 2027 onwards could bring reliability back in line with PJM’s target, a complete halt by then is unrealistic given current utility forecasts, construction timelines, and developer plans.
In the face of decreasing grid reliability and rising energy costs, what measures can help make electricity more affordable for Pennsylvania residents? Several recent reports by Synapse explore solutions in detail.
Siting Reform
First, Synapse worked with Advanced Energy United (AEU) to explore how siting reform could unlock clean energy development and reduce residential electricity bills. Local siting decisions at the municipal or county level often prove to be bottlenecks for renewable energy development. Synapse analyzed restrictive solar ordinances in Pennsylvania that have led to project delays and cancellations due to requirements such as large setbacks, zoning restrictions, and caps on solar coverage for a given lot area.
We found that 10 counties and 187 municipalities across Pennsylvania have restrictive solar ordinances, and 226 municipalities also have restrictive wind energy ordinances. We also estimated that if siting reform opened up just 1 percent of the land in the 10 counties with restrictive solar ordinances, this could add 8-12 GW of clean energy capacity. That amount of clean energy capacity could potentially reduce electricity bills for average households in Pennsylvania by $219 per year by 2029, based on modeling in prior Synapse work.
How would siting reform work in practice? There are several pieces of introduced legislation in Pennsylvania, including one establishing a state permitting board (House Bill 502) and another introducing siting reforms for renewable energy projects (House Bill 2651). In a recent report for Clean Tomorrow, Synapse estimated that House Bill 2651 could streamline 90 solar-related provisions in county ordinances, and 821 solar-related provisions in municipal ordinances, which could help standardize the siting process and deploy clean energy faster.
In the Clean Tomorrow report, Synapse also explored several case studies of renewable energy development in Pennsylvania to understand the key challenges for siting beyond legislation. We found that the siting and permitting process should address community concerns through public engagement, or otherwise risk projects being weeded out at the earliest stages of development.
Battery Procurement
The same Synapse report for AEU also modeled how introduced legislation in Pennsylvania on grid-scale battery energy storage could further reduce residential electricity bills. Pennsylvania House Bill 2380 proposes that utilities procure grid-stabilizing battery storage and sets a target of 3.5 GW by 2035. Synapse estimated that meeting this target could reduce residential electricity bills by avoiding electric system costs that would be needed without the stabilizing effect of batteries. This achievement could save Pennsylvania customers $29 per year on their electricity bills by the time the target is achieved in 2035.
Interconnection Queue Reform
For a new electricity generation project to come online in Pennsylvania, it must go through PJM’s multi-phase study and decision process before receiving an interconnection agreement to connect to the grid. The Synapse report for Clean Tomorrow found that most Pennsylvania energy projects that have entered the PJM interconnection queue since 2023 have withdrawn, with solar projects withdrawing in greatest number.
However, the data Synapse analyzed showed that most Pennsylvania-based energy projects that withdraw from the queue do so at or before Phase 1 of the interconnection process, suggesting that underlying causes such as siting issues were present before queue entry. Therefore, while queue reform could help enable project development, other measures, particularly siting reform, are still necessary to enable clean energy development in Pennsylvania.
Large-Load Tariffs
Large-load tariffs are special utility rate schedules for very large electricity customers such as data centers. Large-load tariffs set specific rates, contract terms, and financial commitments with the goal of having these customers pay for the grid infrastructure they require without shifting those costs to other ratepayers. In its 2025 distribution base rate case, PPL, a Pennsylvania electric distribution company regulated by the PA PUC, proposed creating a new large-load rate class.
Large-load tariffs matter for Pennsylvania because of the scale of load growth involved. Without long-term commitments and clear rules on who pays for new infrastructure, residential customers could end up paying for more than their fair share of grid upgrades, while also dealing with a less reliable grid.
On behalf of the Pennsylvania Utility Law Project, Synapse provided testimony on PPL’s large-load tariff as part of the 2025 base rate case proceeding. Synapse recommended a separate rate class for large-load customers and directly assigning all incremental costs associated with serving large loads to these customers. Additionally, Synapse recommended that large loads be responsible for covering their share of embedded costs, and that these customers be required to contribute to hardship alleviation programs to offset their impacts on wholesale market generation capacity costs. The case settled with adoption of certain recommendations, including establishing a non-bypassable charge that funds assistance for low-income residential customers.
Taken together, these recent Synapse analyses highlight affordability solutions for Pennsylvania residential customers in the face of a grid that is projected to become increasingly unreliable as load growth continues. Our recent reports demonstrate the importance of siting reform to unlock additional clean energy development that will reduce household electricity bills. This could be supported by additional storage procurement and queue reform. At the same time, well-designed large-load tariffs can ensure that new large-load customers pay their fair share and offset their impacts.