Press Release
Governor Shapiro Again Blames PJM for High Energy Prices, Ignores True Culprit: His Policies
Harrisburg, Pa., September 22, 2025 — This week, Gov. Josh Shapiro is speaking as Pennsylvania hosts PJM governors for the Multi-State Technical Conference in Philadelphia.
The conference comes on the heels of rising criticism of PJM from certain governors, expressing concerns over rising electricity costs, reliability of the electric grid, and project delays.
Gov. Shapiro has grown increasingly critical of PJM, even suing the organization in December of last year for its rising auction prices.
These governors, now pointing blame at the partnership itself, ignore one glaringly obvious culprit for high prices and reliability concerns: bad state energy and regulatory policies. These policies include energy taxes, mandating and subsidizing unreliable “alternative energy”, and regulations that have forced several generation plants to close.
Commonwealth Foundation’s Vice President of Policy Elizabeth Stelle offered the following statement in response:
As electricity prices rise, energy production stalls, and Pennsylvania fails to recruit new projects for reliable generation, state leaders must answer to Pennsylvanians. Gov. Shapiro and other politicians are attempting to find a useful scapegoat to distract from their own bad policies that are contributing to higher electricity rates.
PJM must operate within the confines of bad state policy. When restrictive policies tighten the energy supply, prices rise—the exact scenario we saw play out this summer.
Governor Shapiro doubled down on policies that raise costs and jeopardize reliability. His so-called ‘Lightning Plan’ undermines Pennsylvania’s proven track record as an energy leader. With relentless attempts to enter the commonwealth into carbon tax schemes like RGGI, pushing green energy agendas that punish production of affordable energy, and government handouts that kill competition, it should be no surprise to the governor why the energy sector is falling behind in the Keystone State.
The governor’s policies would drive up the already-high costs of energy, with RGGI estimated to raise bills by over 30 percent and PACER and PRESS doubling them.
If Shapiro wants to deliver affordable and reliable energy, he must stop playing the blame game and start fixing what’s broken at home—rolling back costly regulations that delay energy projects, scrapping punitive energy taxes like RGGI, and creating an environment where responsible energy investment can thrive. Until then, families will keep paying the price for Harrisburg’s failures.
Additional Resources
Preventing Pennsylvania from Powering Down: Analysis of Governor Shapiro’s PACER and PRESS Proposals
- By 2035, PACER and PRESS would impose $157 billion in additional statewide electricity costs for businesses and households.
- With PACER and PRESS, overall electricity rates would increase by 60 percent and residential electric bills would more than double.
- 73 percent report higher electricity bills in the past year.
- 74 percent oppose Shapiro’s proposed climate initiatives—specifically, the Pennsylvania Climate Emissions Reduction Act (PACER) and the Pennsylvania Reliable Energy Sustainability Standard (PRESS)—that would raise electricity prices.
- 72 percent oppose Pennsylvania’s participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI).