Shapiro Asks to Join Consumer Advocate’s PPL Data Center Case as the Complaint Flags a July 2027 Supply Risk
- Data Centers Policy & Markets Regulatory State & Local Regulation
Marin Holt
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- 8 minutes read
- Complaint filed by consumer advocate: Oct. 2
- Earliest service risk date in complaint: July 1, 2027
- PPL customers: about 1.5 million
- LP-6 low-income payment from 2027: $11 million a year
- PUC docket: C-2026-3065756
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro asked on Oct. 15, 2026, to join a Public Utility Commission case against PPL Electric Utilities. The case seeks to make large data centers pay the grid costs their demand creates. Other PPL customers would not pay them. The Pennsylvania Office of Consumer Advocate filed the complaint on Oct. 2. The complaint warns that supply shortfalls and transmission limits could compromise service as early as July 1, 2027. The Epoch Times reported the details.
PPL serves about 1.5 million homes and businesses in eastern and central Pennsylvania. The governor’s office announced the petition on Oct. 16. It called the filing the first intervention by a governor in a PUC proceeding in at least 15 years. None of the sources gives a megawatt figure for the data center load at issue.
What the consumer advocate wants
Consumer Advocate Darryl Lawrence argues that PPL’s current rates are unjust and unreasonable. In his view, existing customers pay costs that large data centers cause. He wants the PUC to order a separate rate and service class for large data centers.
Data centers in that class would pay for the transmission upgrades they need. They would also take interruptible service. Their power would be cut first in a grid emergency, before other customers lose theirs. The complaint also asks data centers to pay their share of PJM Interconnection backup programs for power supply.
Why It Matters
PPL already has a large-user rate class, Rate LP-6. The PUC approved it in June in a settlement of PPL’s rate case. The consumer advocate says LP-6 does not protect existing customers enough. The settlement let the parties reopen the rate after a final PUC model tariff for large customers. The PUC has now issued that tariff. PPL calls LP-6 the only large-load tariff the PUC has approved in Pennsylvania. That tariff is now open to challenge.
“Pennsylvanians should not be left paying higher electric bills because of data center developers,” Shapiro said. His petition cites a preliminary review. It says the PPL rules do not account for the growing number of data centers on the system. The administration is still developing its positions. The filing follows an executive order Shapiro signed on Aug. 18. Mark Szybist, his special counsel for energy affordability, signed the petition.
What PPL says it already has
Under LP-6, data centers and other new large customers must make 10-year commitments. Starting in 2027, they pay $11 million a year toward low-income assistance, The Epoch Times reported. PPL said LP-6 also requires payment for dedicated infrastructure, financial security, minimum usage and exit protections.
PPL also filed a Consumer Protection Transmission Rider. It would assign certain transmission network upgrade costs from large-load growth to that customer class. The PUC is reviewing it. “We welcome the governor’s recognition of these important customer protections,” the utility said in an Oct. 16 statement.
What comes next
The complaint gave PPL 20 days to file a written response. If the PUC grants the petition, the administration gets full party status. It could then present evidence and make legal arguments. The petition rests on two grounds: the public interest, and the fact that state agencies are PPL customers. The case is PUC Docket No. C-2026-3065756. Shapiro faces Republican state Treasurer Stacy Garrity in the Nov. 3 election.
Critical Perspective
The complaint asks for interruptible service. But Pennsylvania only began to rewrite who gets cut first in September. On Sept. 10 the PUC voted 5-0 to rewrite its emergency load control rules, as MGRID reported in post 17146. A Tentative Order was due at the Oct. 1 meeting. A data center class that loses power first protects other customers only if that order is in force by July 1, 2027. That is the risk date in the complaint. No source gives a megawatt figure for the data center load at PPL. So the size of the shortfall is unknown. PJM found a 6,831 MW system-wide shortfall for 2028-29 in its July 2026 auction. Rate LP-6 is only four months old. It already carries 10-year commitments and $11 million a year for low-income aid from 2027. Will the PUC finish the curtailment rules before July 2027? And will PPL say how many megawatts of data center load it has signed under LP-6?
Sources
- The Epoch Times: Shapiro Asks Utility Regulators to Make Data Centers Pay for Their Own Power Costs (Oct. 16, 2026)
- PA Environment Digest: Gov. Shapiro Files Petition To Intervene In PPL Electric Rate Case (Oct. 16, 2026)
- WFMZ: Shapiro asks to intervene in PUC proceeding (Oct. 16, 2026)
- PPL Electric Utilities statement via MarketScreener (Oct. 16, 2026)
