FERC show cause orders Jun 18 / Section 206 / PJM MISO SPP CAISO ISO-NE NYISO / 30-day informational report Jul 20 / 60-day tariff response Aug 17 / 90-day abeyance request Aug 3 / five reform categories / cost-shift prevention is the big one / colocation + BTMG rules / flexible-load transmission services

Plain-English version. On June 18, 2026, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC, the federal regulator with jurisdiction over the interstate transmission grid) used Section 206 of the Federal Power Act to issue what are called 'show-cause orders' against all six US-jurisdictional RTOs/ISOs. Section 206 is the legal mechanism FERC uses when it has preliminarily concluded that an existing tariff is unjust and unreasonable — instead of opening a years-long rulemaking, FERC puts the burden on the tariff-holder to either justify the status quo or fix it. The six entities under the show-cause orders are the six RTO/ISO markets: - **PJM Interconnection** — covers PA, NJ, MD, DE, VA, WV, OH, KY, IN, IL, MI, NC, DC. Largest by load. Most exposed to data-center politics (Virginia Northern, Ohio AEP territory, Maryland Frederick County). 67 million people. - **MISO (Midcontinent ISO)** — covers MN, IA, WI, MI lower peninsula, IL portions, IN, MO, KY portions, AR, MS, LA, plus the Manitoba border. Already seeing data-center activity in Wisconsin (Mount Pleasant/Microsoft) and the MN-MISO/Northern grid. - **SPP (Southwest Power Pool)** — covers NE, KS, OK, the TX Panhandle, parts of NM/AR/MO. Where the Oklahoma Data Center Ratepayer Protection Act of 2026 lands; SPP is also where Project Stargate's pipeline implications get studied. - **CAISO (California ISO)** — California plus a slice of Nevada. Lower data-center exposure than the others, but the most active state-policy environment (CA SB 540 series). - **ISO-NE (New England ISO)** — all six New England states. Lowest data-center exposure historically; capacity market has its own dysfunctions. - **NYISO (New York ISO)** — New York State. Just had the NY S.10642 moratorium passed by the legislature (now on Hochul's desk per yesterday's edition). NYISO is the RTO that would have to operationally implement whatever comes out of the Hochul desk + the FERC show-cause order simultaneously. What each RTO has to do, and when: - **30 days (deadline: July 20, 2026):** File an informational report describing how the RTO intends to ensure adequate generation will be available to serve existing AND new large loads. This is essentially 'show us the capacity-adequacy plan that gets us from today's queue to a reliability margin you can stand behind.' - **60 days (deadline: August 17, 2026):** Either (a) show cause why the current tariff is still just and reasonable WITHOUT the specific reforms FERC identified, OR (b) file tariff changes addressing those reforms. - **45 days for abeyance request (deadline: August 3, 2026):** RTOs can ask FERC to hold all or part of the order in abeyance for up to 90 additional days to allow stakeholder processes to develop responsive filings. This is the safety-valve mechanism if the 60-day window is genuinely too short. The five FERC-identified reform categories. The show-cause orders give each RTO a specific set of issues to address. These are: (1) develop efficient transmission-service application and study processes, including alternative transmission technologies (i.e., grid-enhancing technologies, dynamic line ratings); (2) prevent cost-shifting and require transparency into transmission costs (the big one — this is where 'who pays' is litigated); (3) accommodate co-location agreements and behind-the-meter generation (the data-center-plus-power-plant pattern); (4) provide new transmission services for flexible large loads (services tailored to loads that can curtail when the grid is tight); (5) develop processes to study generating facilities that serve electrically proximate large loads and co-located loads (essentially, the colocation-rules pattern PJM has been litigating since the Talen-AWS/Susquehanna case).

Primary source · FERC — FERC Launches Aggressive Targeted Action to Speed Large Load Integration (Jun 18 2026) + Mondaq + Day Pitney summaries of the six Section 206 orders + Akin Gump abeyance analysis ↗