CNBC's Brian Sullivan reports on news regarding utilities set to rise next year. Here's why and what it means for you.

Electricity rates in the mid-Atlantic and Midwest regions are projected to increase following a record high energy price auction conducted by PJM, the grid operator serving approximately 65 million people. The auction rate for the coming year reached $329 per megawatt day, a significant jump from previous years, though it was capped by an agreement with Pennsylvania's governor.

The surge in rates is linked to several factors, including the retirement of older power plants, growing demand from data centers and electric vehicles, and delays in building new power plants due to legal, permitting, and financing challenges. While PJM estimates household bills may rise by about 5%, this comes on top of previous increases, and further hikes are possible with another auction scheduled. The issue has drawn political attention, with state leaders criticizing the grid operator's handling of the market.

Electricity rates set to rise again next year

All right, welcome back to Power Lunch. By now, you know our RBI, random but interesting. But we're going to call this one WBI, wonky but important. And it's a story you may not hear anywhere else. Your home electricity prices may rise again next year. It's because the grid operator for the entire mid-Atlantic and Midwestern area, basically DC to Ohio and a little bit of Chicago, just had a record high energy price auction. Now, the whole process, super complicated. But basically, it's what power generators are willing to pay to make sure they produce enough power for you. Some of these numbers are stunning. Listen to this. Now, last year, the auction rate was $28.92 per megawatt day. This year, that number soared to nearly $270. And the auction for the coming year just hit a record high of $329 per megawatt day. By the way, that number could have gone even higher, but the rate was capped by a deal made with the state of Pennsylvania and its governor, Josh Shapiro. So why are electricity rates surging so much across America the past couple of years? Well, it's really a combination of a lot of factors. You got old power plants being shut down. You got data center and EV demand raising the need for more electrical power. And there's a huge backlog of new power plants that are not being built for a whole host of reasons, which include lawsuits, permitting issues, financing, Kelly, good old-fashioned NIMBYism. We want that built, just not in my backyard. Now, the goodish news is that the 65 million or so people on this power grid called PJM, Pennsylvania, Jersey, Maryland, will not see huge jumps in their bills. I beg to differ. OK. Keep going. No. Well, it's going to be about 5%, according to PJM. But you got to remember, we're already up. That's on top of what has been increases over the last couple of years. So even another 1% to 5% is still kind of a punch in the gut. And people expect prices to keep rising? Yeah, because there's another auction in December, which could go even higher. The governor, it's gotten so bad, the governor of New Jersey, Phil Murphy, and Phil, Governor Murphy, you're our governor. You're welcome on the show anytime. He sent a letter, a nasty letter to PJM back in April, basically blaming them for market manipulation. So now everyone's starting to do this because it's become a political issue.

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