Washington, D.C. – Following the Midcontinent Independent System Operator’s (MISO) release of the results of its 2025-2026 Planning Resource Auction and introduction of a new Reliability Based Demand Curve, America’s Power issued the following statement by Michelle Bloodworth, President and CEO:
“The sky high capacity prices in MISO’s recent auction prove that the 15-state grid operator is facing a reliability problem similar to other regions of the country, except that MISO is the only region that the North American Electric Reliability Corporation has designated as being at a high risk of electricity shortages over the next five years.
“The summer 2025 auction price that was announced is 20 times higher than the price for last summer, and 60 times higher than the price two years ago. This pattern of increasing prices clearly indicates a problem. Unless serious steps are taken quickly, this problem will worsen as electricity demand continues to increase, coal retirements continue, and auction prices increase even more, raising the price of electricity. Over the next 5 years, at least a third of MISO’s coal plants will retire, unless steps are taken to prevent retirements.
“The only good news is that MISO is at least trying to improve price signals that reward the value of dispatchable resources like coal, but more work needs to be done such as explicitly valuing attributes like fuel security.
“We strongly urge utilities and state utility commissions to stop coal retirements and avoid electricity price increases.”