The Pennsylvania-Maryland-New Jersey Interconnection (PJM) has oversight of Generation and Transmission of power throughout much of the mid-Atlantic region. Because of substantial expansion over the past number of years, this Regional Transmission Organization now includes 17 electric utilities within its control (for example PPL & PECO). PJM now oversees power delivery to 51 million people. In fact, if PJM were a country it would be the 5th largest electric consumer in the world. Since the nature of electricity is that the power generated must always equal the power consumed, PJM is constantly scheduling its generation resources to match the load.

PJM now also has several Demand-Side Response (DSR) programs in place which can be utilized to help match generation with load. With these programs, energy consumers (end-users) who are able to reduce load and respond quickly, can be “scheduled” by PJM to curtail power just as PJM schedules generation resources to provide power. These DSR programs require that the end user reduce load (or bring on behind-the-meter backup generation) in exchange for direct payments from PJM. Curtailment Service Providers (CSP) partner with REG to administer the programs and work directly with end-users for implementation. Additional metering may be needed and generally a minimum of 100 kW load reduction is required although some customers qualify to reduce as little as 25kW.