NEW JERSEY — PJM Interconnection has extended its Maximum Generation Alert and Load Management Alert through Wednesday, Oct. 14, as unusually warm fall weather increases electricity demand while power generation and transmission equipment undergo scheduled maintenance.
The alerts, originally issued for Tuesday, Oct. 13, are part of efforts to maintain a reliable electricity supply across the regional power grid.
The alerts do not require any action from customers.
PJM said it is implementing emergency procedures to manage increased electricity demand while planned maintenance and construction projects have temporarily taken generating facilities and transmission equipment out of service.
A Capacity Advisory remains in effect for Tuesday and Wednesday, along with a Maintenance Outage Recall for Wednesday.
A Maximum Generation Alert notifies electricity generators and transmission owners that grid conditions are expected to be tight, allowing them to postpone maintenance or testing to keep equipment available.
The alert also notifies neighboring grid operators that electricity exports from PJM may be reduced.
A Load Management Alert provides advance notice that PJM may call on customers participating in demand response programs to reduce electricity use during periods of increased demand.
On Tuesday, PJM issued a Pre-Emergency Load Management Action to help manage afternoon and evening electricity demand, particularly as solar power generation decreases later in the day.
Under demand response programs, participating customers receive payments in exchange for reducing electricity consumption when directed by PJM during stressed grid conditions.
PJM also recalled certain electricity sales to neighboring power systems.
The alerts come during the region’s planned maintenance season, which typically runs from mid-September through early December. During this period, power plants and transmission facilities undergo maintenance and construction in preparation for peak winter electricity demand.
PJM said it has recalled or canceled maintenance outages where possible, including all active generation maintenance outages across its service region effective at noon Wednesday.
As of Tuesday, approximately 61,000 megawatts of generation capacity were unavailable because of scheduled outages, along with key transmission facilities undergoing maintenance and major construction projects.
“Unseasonable weather patterns are providing fewer days to perform important maintenance or construction on the generation and transmission equipment serving our footprint,” said Mike Bryson, PJM Sr. Vice President – System Operations. “This is the new reality that grid operators are facing, but PJM is confident that our procedures, along with the DOE orders, gives us additional tools to maintain our reserve margins and allow us to operate reliably.”
According to PJM, electricity demand was forecast to reach 112,447 megawatts Tuesday and 113,312 megawatts Wednesday. Those projections were current as of 2 p.m. Tuesday and are subject to change.
The U.S. Department of Energy also issued an emergency order effective Oct. 13 through Oct. 16, providing PJM with additional flexibility to manage electricity supply.
The order temporarily relaxes certain environmental permit restrictions for generating facilities and authorizes PJM to direct data centers and other large electricity customers to switch to backup generation if necessary.
PJM said similar emergency orders have been issued during extreme conditions earlier in 2026, but it has not needed to direct large electricity customers to use backup generation to date.
Additional emergency procedures may be implemented depending on changing grid conditions.
