PJM set an all-time peak of 162.6 gigawatts this summer, and two more grids broke records too

PJM Interconnection, the grid operator for 13 states and Washington, D.C., hit an all-time peak load of 162.6 gigawatts on July 2, 2026. That topped its previous record of 160.6 gigawatts, set on June 23, 2025, and it was one of three regional grids to set a new high this summer.

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The U.S. Energy Information Administration’s review found that Texas and the Southwest Power Pool also broke records, in a season it ties to the hottest summer on record nationally.

Three records in one summer

In its October 15 analysis, the EIA said PJM, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas and the Southwest Power Pool each set a new peak load. The figures come from the agency’s Form EIA-930 data, which balancing authorities report hourly.

PJM’s margin over its 2025 peak was 1.3 percent, about 2 gigawatts. ERCOT, which runs most of Texas, reached 91.1 gigawatts on July 22, beating its August 20, 2024 record of 85.5 gigawatts by 6.5 percent. The Southwest Power Pool, which spans a swath of the central United States, reached 58.0 gigawatts on July 27, up 3.5 percent from the 56.0 gigawatts it set on August 21, 2023.

The Texas jump is the outlier. A 6.5 percent gain is roughly 5.6 gigawatts of additional peak demand, about the size of several large power plants running flat out at the busiest hour of the year.

What drove the peaks

The EIA attributes most of the peaks to regional heat waves during a summer it describes as the hottest on record nationally. Air conditioning is the dominant swing factor in summer load, so a run of extreme days pushes a grid to the top of its demand range faster than any change in the number of customers can.

That framing matters for how to read the records. A new peak does not by itself mean the grid failed. It means more electricity was demanded in a single hour than at any time since hourly data began being reported, and the system met it. The EIA’s article does not report outages tied to these peaks.

The calendar shows how the load was spread. PJM and the two Northeast operators all peaked on the same day, July 2, which suggests one regional heat wave pressing across the Mid-Atlantic and New England at once, though the EIA’s article does not name the weather system behind it.

The agency also does not say these peaks came from one storm or one day. They landed on different dates, from July 2 in the PJM footprint to July 27 in the Southwest Power Pool, which points to repeated heat across the season rather than a single event.

The grids that came close

Not every large grid broke a record. California’s operator peaked at 50.0 gigawatts on September 9, within 2 percent of its 51.1 gigawatt record from September 6, 2022. ISO New England peaked at 25.3 gigawatts on July 2, short of its June 24, 2025 record of 25.9 gigawatts, and the New York ISO reached 31.1 gigawatts the same day against a 2025 high of 31.9 gigawatts.

The Midcontinent operator, MISO, reached 121.5 gigawatts on June 30, within 4 percent of its record by the EIA’s measure. That is the highest value in the agency’s hourly grid monitor, but it falls below the 127.1 gigawatts MISO reported for July 20, 2011, which predates the hourly series.

New York carries its own asterisk. Its all-time record of 34.0 gigawatts dates to 2013, before the EIA’s hourly data begins, so the 31.1 gigawatts of 2026 is a record only within the period the agency can compare, and it sits well under the long-standing mark.

The pattern is less uniform than three record-setters suggest. The West’s biggest grid peaked in September, not in July, and the Northeast came within a few percent of marks set only a year earlier.

The caveat buried in the peak-demand figures

The EIA is careful about its own data. It publishes the balancing-authority figures as reported, “as-is,” and says values may reflect reporting issues, so numbers posted by PJM, ERCOT or the Southwest Power Pool themselves may differ slightly from the agency’s tables. The agency’s Hourly Electric Grid Monitor is where readers can check the underlying hourly series.

For households and regulators the practical stake is margin. Each record raises the benchmark that planners must now cover, and the next hot summer starts from 162.6 gigawatts in the PJM territory rather than from last year’s 160.6.

The open question is whether 2026 is a ceiling or a waypoint. PJM’s record rose only about 1.3 percent, but ERCOT’s rose by more than six, and the EIA’s review leaves unanswered how much of each jump came from weather and how much from underlying growth in demand.

This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.

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