This a myth that we have heard voiced by IMEA. And now the myth has apparently been repeated during the Naperville Public Utilities Advisory Board (PUAB) meeting on March 8, 2025. Our citizen research finds no such evidence of PJM requirements for a utility to have accredited capacity. 

Instead, we find that PJM requires that a utility, known as a Load Serving Entity (LSE), pay its share of PJM’s reliability charges, which PJM uses to pay power generators for their accredited capacity. PJM procures this capacity through its capacity auctions in order to ensure PJM system reliability.  

And since IMEA operates as both a generator and an LSE, IMEA (the generator) supplies accredited capacity in the PJM capacity auction such that IMEA (the LSE) can use that capacity auction revenue to offset its share of the reliability charges imposed by PJM.

Stated another way: IMEA’s net reliability costs equal the IMEA LSE’s reliability charges minus the IMEA generator’s capacity auction revenue credits.

This myth has led to insinuations that huge additional costs are needed to procure additional solar resources for capacity, when there is no such PJM requirement.

We described further details of this myth in the text of our public comments and handout for the Apr 8, 2025 Naperville PUAB meeting. Here’s the link to a copy in pdf file format:
PUAB Public Comments: Myth of PJM Accredited Capacity Requirements of a Utility
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MRwfSQkGKdv39MD1CHDO9OF4ISYMVkPN/view

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Myths, misinfo, and lack of the complete story are often related to lack of transparency, so please consider visiting our Lack of Transparency webpage too.