January 26, 2026 - PJM has issued precautionary alerts and continues to operate through the wide arctic system that is bringing extreme cold temperatures, ice and snow through next weekend to the region PJM serves, spanning 13 states and the District of Columbia.

Between Jan. 23 and 27, and possibly extending through Jan. 30, temperatures are expected to reach single digits throughout the RTO and below zero in PJM’s Western Region. Peak demand has the potential to exceed 130,000 MW for seven straight days, a winter streak that PJM has never experienced.

Depending on temperatures, PJM could set a new all-time winter peak load on Tuesday, Jan. 27. The extreme cold is currently expected to continue through Sunday, Feb. 1, so PJM is taking additional precautions with its generation and transmission owners to prepare.

“This is a formidable arctic cold front coming our way, and it will impact our neighboring systems as much as it affects PJM,” said Mike Bryson, Sr. Vice President – Operations. “We will be relying on our generation fleet to perform as well as they did during last year’s record winter peak.”

Most Recent Actions

U.S. Department of Energy Order

PJM continues to take precautions to aggressively support its generation fleet. On Sunday morning, Jan. 25, the U.S. Department of Energy issued an order pursuant to section 202(c) of the Federal Power Act, in response to PJM’s Jan. 24 application for relief.

The order allows PJM to run all electric generating units located within the PJM region to operate up to their maximum generation output levels, notwithstanding air quality or other permit limitations or fuel shortages while the emergency lasts. This order is effective through Jan. 31.

PJM currently has sufficient resources to serve load but may implement the order as appropriate given the record electricity demand expect this week.

Pre-Emergency Demand Response Called in BGE, DOM, PEPCO

Also as a precautionary measure, PJM activated Demand Response customers in parts of the Mid-Atlantic Sunday (Jan. 25). PJM called on Pre-Emergency Demand Response for BGE, Dominion and Pepco areas for Sunday afternoon/evening to address localized transmission constraints and to preserve the run-time of generators that will be needed for  colder weather and higher electricity demand later in the week.

Demand response or load management customers are paid to reduce their electricity consumption to ease load during critical periods.

Cold Weather Alerts Continue

A Cold Weather Alert is currently in effect for the entire region PJM serves has been extended through Feb. 1.

A Cold Weather Alert is a routine procedure PJM issues in advance of significantly cold weather conditions expected for all or parts of the region PJM serves.

When issued, PJM communicates with generation owners to tell them to be prepared to call in additional staff to get all units running for when electricity use begins to increase. Generation owners must take extra care to maintain equipment so that it does not freeze in the cold and are reminded to provide updated information to PJM on limitations to their units, including time required to start and the max and min times that their units can run once started.

A Cold Weather Alert can also be used to defer or reschedule planned generation maintenance outages and/or transmission outages and/or recall transmission/generator outages, if necessary.

The Western Region in PJM is made up of the following transmission zones and control areas:

• AES Ohio – formerly Dayton Power & Light
• American Electric Power (AEP Ohio, Appalachian Power, Indiana Michigan Power and Kentucky Power)
• American Municipal Power Transmission
• ComEd
• Cleveland Public Power
• Duke Energy Ohio and Duke Energy Kentucky
• Duquesne Light Company
• East Kentucky Power Cooperative
• FirstEnergy South – formerly Allegheny Power Systems (West Penn Power, Mon Power, Potomac Edison)
• FirstEnergy West – formerly American Transmission Systems, Inc. (Penn Power, Ohio Edison, The Illuminating Company and Toledo Edison)
• Ohio Valley Electric Corporation

See PJM’s Emergency Procedures and Messages fact sheet (PDF) for more information.

Conservative Operations Declared for Jan. 24 through Feb. 1

PJM has also issued a Conservative Operations declaration for Jan. 24 through Feb. 1 for advance unit commitments.

There are any number of events that may require PJM to operate more conservatively. When PJM declares Conservative Operations, system operators have more flexibility to make decisions to maintain reliability. The declaration of Conservative Operations may include additional actions, including recalling/cancelling non-critical maintenance outages, reductions in transfers into, across or through the PJM RTO, increased reserves, and/or additional requests placed upon PJM member transmission owners and generation owners.

Maintenance Outage Recall

Additionally, PJM issued a generator maintenance outage recall on Jan. 21, requesting for all maintenance outages to be returned to service by Jan. 24 in order to increase the amount of generation available to meet customer demand. The generator maintenance outage recall is expected to remain in place until further notice.

Preliminary and Forecast Peaks

On Friday, Jan. 23, PJM served a preliminary hourly integrated peak of over 123,300 MW. On Saturday, Jan. 24, PJM served a preliminary hourly integrated peak of nearly 135,000 MW.

Preliminary hourly integrated peak data can be found by using PJM’s Data Miner tool.

As of Jan. 25, PJM is expecting to serve the following approximate peak loads for Saturday, Jan. 24, through Friday, Jan. 30:

• Sunday, Jan. 25: 131,100 MW
• Monday, Jan. 26: 137,800 MW
• Tuesday, Jan. 27: 147,200 MW
• Wednesday, Jan. 28: 145,600 MW
• Thursday, Jan. 29:  144,500 MW
• Friday, Jan 30: 145,900 MW
• Saturday, Jan. 31: 131,000 MW
• Sunday, Feb. 1: 126,000 MW

These numbers are official as of 1:15 p.m. on Jan. 25. They are subject to change and will be updated periodically.

Load forecasts can be viewed on the PJM Now application, PJM Data Viewer (72 hours) and PJM Data Miner (seven days).

PJM Winter Preparations

PJM expects to have 180,800 MW of winter operational capacity to serve its seasonal forecasted peak demand for this winter. This expectation is based on PJM and the PJM resources continuing to take operational steps to improve generator performance during extreme winter conditions.

To develop its winter scenario forecasts, PJM analyzes expected electricity demand, weather predictions and other factors. The National Weather Service predicts a slightly warmer winter for the Atlantic Seaboard, with typical temperatures – but above-average precipitation – in PJM’s midwestern states of Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan and Ohio.

PJM and stakeholders take a number of actions to prepare for cold weather, outlined in its Cold Weather Preparation Guideline and Checklist, contained in Manual 14D (PDF) Attachment N. These protocols incorporate lessons learned from past severe events, including Winter Storm Elliott (2022), Winter Storm Uri (2021) and Winter Storm Enzo (2025).