Membership & Sector Selection
PJM members have signed the PJM Operating Agreement. This agreement grants members certain rights and obligations – such as the right to vote at PJM stakeholder meetings. The Operating Agreement establishes five industry sectors to facilitate voting and other activities of members in the PJM stakeholder process. In order to vote, members must select a single sector that best represents their voting interests, even if they may qualify for more than one sector. Requests to change sectors are permitted once per year at the annual meeting of the members.
Five Sectors
- Transmission owner - “Transmission Owner” shall mean a Member that owns or leases with rights equivalent to ownership Transmission Facilities and is a signatory to the PJM Transmission Owners Agreement. Taking transmission service shall not be sufficient to qualify a Member as a Transmission Owner.
Example: A company that owns and maintains transmission facilities within PJM’s footprint.
Reference: Operating Agreement WEB | PDF - Part I, Section 1
- Generation owner - “Generation Owner” shall mean a Member that owns or leases, with right equivalent to ownership, a Capacity Resource or an Energy Resource within the PJM footprint. The foregoing notwithstanding, for a planned generation resource to qualify a Member as a Generation Owner, such resource shall have cleared an RPM auction, and for Energy Resources, the resource shall have a FERC-jurisdictional interconnection agreement or wholesale market participation agreement within PJM.
A Member that is primarily a retail end-user of electricity that owns generation may qualify as a Generation Owner if: (1) the generation resource is the subject of a FERC-jurisdictional interconnection agreement or wholesale market participation agreement within PJM; (2) the average physical unforced capacity owned by the Member and its affiliates over the five Planning Periods immediately preceding the relevant Planning Period exceeds the average PJM capacity obligation of the Member and its affiliates over the same time period; and (3) the average energy produced by the Member and its affiliates within PJM over the five Planning Periods immediately preceding the relevant Planning Period exceeds the average energy consumed by the Member and its affiliates within PJM over the same time period.
Example: You own a generator within the PJM footprint and want to receive wholesale payments for producing energy, capacity, and/or ancillaries for the PJM grid.
Reference: Operating Agreement WEB | PDF - Part I, Section 1
- Electric distributor - “Electric Distributor” shall mean a Member that: 1) owns or leases with rights equivalent to ownership electric distribution facilities that are used to provide electric distribution service to electric load within the PJM Region; or 2) is a generation and transmission cooperative or a joint municipal agency that has a member that owns electric distribution facilities used to provide electric distribution service to electric load within the PJM Region.
Example: Your company owns distribution facilities within PJM’s footprint and has been approved as a load serving entity and wants to transact in the wholesale market to serve your retail customers.
Reference: Operating Agreement WEB | PDF - Part I, Section 1
- End-use customer - “End-Use Customer” shall mean a Member that is a retail end-user of electricity within the PJM Region. A Member that is a retail end-user that owns generation may qualify as an End-Use customer if: (1) the average physical unforced capacity owned by the Member and its affiliates in the PJM region over the five Planning Periods immediately preceding the relevant Planning Period does not exceed the average PJM capacity obligation for the Member and its affiliates over the same time period; or (2) the average energy produced by the Member and its affiliates within the PJM region over the five Planning Periods immediately preceding the relevant Planning Period does not exceed the average energy consumed by that Member and its affiliates within the PJM region over the same time period. The foregoing notwithstanding, taking retail service may not be sufficient to qualify a Member as an End-Use Customer.
Example: Large industrial retail customers and state offices of consumer advocates.
Reference: Operating Agreement WEB | PDF - Part I, Section 1
- Other supplier - “Other Supplier” shall mean a Member that: (i) is engaged in buying, selling or transmitting electric energy, capacity, ancillary services, financial transmission rights or other services available under PJM’s governing documents in or through the Interconnection or has a good faith intent to do so, and; (ii) does not qualify for the Generation Owner, Electric Distributor, Transmission Owner or End-Use Customer sectors.
Example: Your company has been approved as a competitive load serving entity or power marketer and wants to transact in the wholesale market.
Reference: Operating Agreement WEB | PDF - Part I, Section 1
Affiliate Member
Each family of companies may only select a single voting PJM member to participate in senior standing committees (e.g., Members Committee and Markets and Reliability Committee). Affiliates may vote at senior task force and lower level standing committee meetings (e.g., Markets Implementation Committee, Planning Committee and Operating Committee). If a PJM member is related to or affiliated with another PJM member, the family of companies would need to determine which PJM member would retain the rights to vote and the other(s) would then be considered an affiliate(s). Voting members pay an annual fee of $5,000. The annual fee for affiliates is waived.
Associate Member
An entity that is not a member of the end-use customer sector and has not been a market participant over the past six months, and has no verifiable plans to become a market participant over the next six months may be an associate member. Associate members may attend stakeholder meetings but do not have voting privileges and may not transact in PJM’s markets.