Understand the problem in 60 seconds
Watch the explainer below to see why congestion costs show up on your electric bill — and what we can do about it.
A 60-second explainer on why congestion costs show up on your electric bill
About the Affordable Grid Coalition
The Affordable Grid Coalition is a cross-sector alliance of energy market participants, consumer advocates, renewable developers, and state officials united by a simple principle: consumers deserve congestion credit tools that reflect today's grid — not yesterday's.
The coalition was founded in 2025 by energy market professionals and consumer advocates who spent over a decade documenting the congestion hedging gap across U.S. wholesale electricity markets. Our quantitative analysis covers PJM, MISO, and SPP to date, with NYISO and CAISO analysis underway. All figures are grounded in publicly available settlement data, validated against Independent Market Monitor findings.
Data & analysis provided by XO Energy, LLC — an energy trading and analytics firm specializing in congestion revenue rights across PJM, MISO, SPP, and ERCOT. Contact: info@xo-energy.com
Our growing coalition includes state utility commissions, consumer advocacy organizations, renewable energy developers, cooperative utilities, and individual market participants who believe consumers deserve the same congestion protections Texas ratepayers already have.
Follow the money trail from the power grid to your monthly bill
The math is simple: utilities currently return $18.9 billion through existing congestion credits to offset $30.8 billion in charges. The difference — $11.9 billion — is paid directly by consumers, an average gap of $1.5 billion per year. Additional credits exist to help offset increasingly large congestion charges, however no products exist to capture them.
Think About It Like Your Commute
Paper Map vs. GPS
Today's system is like planning a road trip with a paper map months or years in advance. You pick your route, lock it in, and hope for the best. But you couldn't possibly see the traffic jam occurring today. An RT Congestion Hedge is like upgrading to GPS with live traffic data — it manages what's actually happening on the grid right now, not what was predicted a year ago.
How This Saves Consumers Money
More Credits Return to Consumers
The RT Congestion Hedge generates additional congestion credits that flow back to consumers through existing cost-recovery mechanisms. Today, ARR credits return only 61% of total congestion charges. An RT Congestion Hedge captures value that current tools miss — growing the total credit pool and narrowing the $11.9 billion gap.
Existing Credits Become More Valuable
When market participants actively manage real-time congestion, day-ahead and real-time prices converge. That convergence makes existing ARR and FTR credits more valuable — they fund more fully, returning more to consumers without any changes to the current allocation process.
Renewable Congestion Costs Come Down
Renewable energy is the fastest-growing driver of congestion charges — $5.5 billion since 2023 across PJM, MISO, and SPP. This congestion is largely unhedged because ARR allocations are built on legacy paths that predate today's renewable fleet. With an RT Congestion Hedge, these costs can be managed and credited back to consumers.
Growing Load, Growing Costs
Data centers and electrification are driving unprecedented load growth. More load means more congestion, and more congestion means higher charges for everyone. An RT Congestion Hedge ensures these costs can be actively managed rather than passed through to all consumers.
Why are bills going up but nothing's changing?
Utilities recover congestion costs through state-regulated mechanisms — charges flow directly to consumers. Because utilities are made whole through this process, the incentives that would typically drive action — increasing costs and higher bills — don't apply. That's why federal action through FERC is needed to bring an RT Congestion Hedge to market, and why consumer support matters.
Your voice matters in this fight.
Join thousands of consumers, advocates, and regulators demanding that FERC bring real-time congestion hedging tools to every U.S. electricity market.
The Congestion Problem
The data from ISO State of Market reports and ARR credit analysis — market by market, dollar by dollar. Here's what consumers are paying and what's being left on the table.
The Evidence Is Overwhelming
Congestion Credits by the Numbers
A walkthrough of total congestion charges and credit performance across PJM, MISO, and SPP
This Problem Is Accelerating — Renewables Are the Driver
The ISOs' own Independent Market Monitors and FERC's infrastructure data tell the same story: renewable generation is the fastest-growing source of congestion, and the existing credit framework wasn't designed for it. As the generation mix continues to shift, these patterns will only intensify — and without real-time hedging tools, consumers absorb the growing cost.
MISO — Potomac Economics (IMM)
2024 State of the MarketWind output now contributes approximately 40% of MISO's real-time congestion — up from 35% in 2019. Wind forecast errors averaged 14% on a 2-hour-ahead basis (up from 8% in 2023), widening the gap between day-ahead and real-time prices. This forecast divergence is exactly what an RT Congestion Hedge addresses.
Source: Potomac Economics, 2024 MISO State of the Market Report (2019–2024 data).
SPP — Market Monitoring Unit
2024 State of the MarketWind now accounts for 38% of total SPP generation. Congestion drives 92% of all price variation — the highest since the market launched in 2014. Wind curtailments have increased 10× in five years (137 MW/hr in 2019 to 1,483 MW/hr in 2024). The MMU describes the dominant congestion pattern as running along the boundary between renewable generation and load.
Source: SPP MMU, 2024 State of the Market Report (May 2025).
FERC — Renewable Capacity Pipeline
2025 Energy Infrastructure UpdateRenewables accounted for 88% of all new generating capacity added in 2025. Solar alone was 73% of new additions — leading for 28 consecutive months. The 2026–2028 pipeline projects 35 GW/year of new wind and solar. Every megawatt of new renewable capacity creates congestion at nodes the existing ARR framework doesn't cover.
Source: FERC Energy Infrastructure Update, 2025 full year (April 2026).
This Problem Has Been Documented for Over a Decade
Independent market monitors, state commissions, and academic experts have identified this gap — and proposed solutions — since 2013. MISO's IMM has recommended a virtual spread product in every State of the Market report. SPP approved a product (SIR34) through its stakeholder process but implementation stalled. PJM once had a functioning product — Up-To Congestion transactions — that has since been scaled back dramatically through limited trading nodes and fees which create a significant hurdle rate.
How PJM's real-time congestion product was scaled back — and what it cost consumers
A Proven Solution
This isn't theoretical. One U.S. market already does this — and it works. We're asking FERC to bring that same protection to every electricity consumer in America.
Texas proves the two-layer congestion hedging model works — we're asking FERC to bring it everywhere
Why It Works
DA-RT Convergence
When participants can trade the DA-RT spread, it incentivizes better price formation in both markets. Day-ahead prices converge toward real-time, which makes existing ARR and FTR credits more valuable — even without changing the ARR framework itself. Everyone wins when prices are more accurate.
Renewable Congestion Management
$5.5B in renewable RT congestion since 2023 — and no product exists to manage it. Wind and solar generators underbid in DA due to forecast uncertainty, creating RT congestion that legacy ARR paths can't cover. An RT Congestion Hedge at full nodal granularity gives the market the first tool to manage this growing exposure.
Proven in ERCOT
Texas already operates this model. ERCOT's Point-to-Point Obligation product settles at full nodal granularity in real-time, is open to all market participants, supports legitimate hedging across all market sectors, and has a fee structure that incentivizes convergence.
What We're Asking FERC To Do
Existing congestion revenue crediting mechanisms are unjust and unreasonable because they systematically fail to return real-time congestion value to the consumers who fund the transmission grid. The Affordable Grid Coalition is filing Section 206 complaints at FERC against each ISO/RTO to direct implementation of an RT congestion settlement tier — modeled on ERCOT's proven design.
Real-Time Settlement
Products that settle against actual congestion — not just day-ahead forecasts.
Full Nodal Granularity
Hedging at all available prompt month auction paths — so utilities, generators, and large loads can manage their actual congestion exposure.
Open Access
Supporting legitimate hedging and convergence activity across all market sectors. Competition increases efficiency.
Fee Structure That Works
A fee structure that incentivizes convergence and supports active participation — modeled on ERCOT's proven design.
Market Integrity
Rules that protect market integrity while preserving the product's ability to deliver consumer benefits.
FERC Section 206
Directing ISOs to implement real-time congestion hedging tools through FERC's existing authority under the Federal Power Act.
Markets Affected
Lead filings in April 2026 against PJM, MISO, and SPP. Follow-on complaints against NYISO and CAISO once data analysis is complete.
Who's Affected
This issue touches every corner of the electricity system. Select your role below to see how the congestion hedging gap affects you.
You're paying billions for a problem that has a proven fix.
Every time electricity gets congested on the transmission grid, the extra cost shows up in your electric bill. Today, there's no tool to manage the gap between forecast and reality. That gap means consumers across PJM, MISO, and SPP alone missed out on $7.1 billion in congestion revenue over 8 planning years — with NYISO and CAISO data still being compiled.
Think of it this way: imagine if your car insurance only covered accidents predicted the night before. Any accident they didn't forecast? That's on you. That's how electricity congestion works today.
The solution already works in Texas, which consistently achieves full congestion revenue return to consumers. We're asking for the same protection in every U.S. electricity market.
The Section 206 Complaint Is Filing in April 2026. Add Your Voice.
We are filing formal complaints at FERC asking that PJM, MISO, SPP, NYISO, and CAISO implement real-time congestion hedging tools. State commissions, consumer advocates, and market participants can sign on as co-complainants or supporting parties. The filing deadline is imminent.
30 seconds on why your voice matters — sign onto the Section 206 complaint today
State PUC commissioners oversee the utilities that pass congestion costs to you. Attorneys General can investigate consumer protection failures. Both can file supporting comments at FERC. Use the lookup tools below to find your state contacts.
How the Federal Power Act gives you the right to challenge broken electricity market rules at FERC
Five concrete actions PUC commissioners and Attorneys General can take right now
Glossary of Terms
Plain-language definitions of the energy market terms used throughout this site.
When too much electricity tries to flow through a bottleneck on the transmission grid, prices increase at that location. The extra cost is called congestion. Think of it like a toll that increases during rush hour.
A financial credit allocated to utilities based on their historical use of the transmission grid. ARRs give utilities the revenue from FTR auctions, which partially offsets congestion costs. Think of it as a rebate check based on last year's toll road usage.
A financial contract that pays the holder based on the difference in day-ahead electricity prices between two points on the grid. Utilities can convert their ARRs into FTRs to potentially earn more, but they take on risk.
When a utility converts its free ARR allocation into an FTR. Instead of receiving the auction clearing price, the utility receives the day-ahead congestion value — which may be higher or lower.
The electricity market that runs one day before real-time delivery. Generators and utilities submit bids and offers, and prices are set for each hour of the next day. It's like booking a hotel room in advance.
The electricity market that runs in real-time (every 5 minutes). Prices reflect actual grid conditions. It's like the walk-in rate at a hotel — often different from what you booked.
The higher of the day-ahead or real-time congestion value for each hour. This represents what a perfect hedging tool would capture — always picking the best price. It's the theoretical maximum.
A product that allows market participants to manage the difference between day-ahead and real-time congestion. Different markets use different names: Point-to-Point Obligation (ERCOT), Up-To Congestion/UTC (PJM), Spread Bid (MISO proposal), RT Congestion Hedge (SPP proposal), and Linked Virtual Transaction/LVT (NYISO proposal). ERCOT's version is the only one fully operational today.
A state-regulated mechanism that allows utilities to pass through fuel and purchased power costs (including congestion charges) to ratepayers, usually without a full rate case. Different states call it different things: FAC, PSCR, FCA, EAC, Rider HSS.
A legal mechanism under the Federal Power Act that allows any party to ask FERC to investigate whether existing rates, charges, or practices are unjust, unreasonable, or unduly discriminatory. Our complaint: existing congestion revenue crediting mechanisms systematically fail to return real-time congestion value to the consumers who fund the transmission grid. If FERC agrees, the ISO must implement a remedy.
The entity that operates the electric grid and runs the wholesale electricity market for a region. PJM, MISO, SPP, ERCOT, NYISO, and CAISO are the major U.S. ISOs.
A third-party watchdog appointed to monitor each ISO's markets for fairness and efficiency. The IMM publishes annual State of the Market reports with findings and recommendations.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about the coalition, the complaint, and real-time congestion hedging.