Who Pays for the Watts: AI Data Centers, a Capacity Auction Pinned at Its Cap, and the $6.3 Billion Question - August 7, 2026

Who Pays for the Watts: AI Data Centers, a Capacity Auction Pinned at Its Cap, and the $6.3 Billion Question The largest grid operator in America just held a capacity auction that cleared at exactly its administrative price cap of $325 per megawatt-day, and still came up 6,831 megawatts short of its own reliability standard. PJM's Independent Market Monitor attributes roughly $6.3 billion of the $16.4 billion total to data centers, much of it reserved for speculative load that may never be built. Chris and Laura unpack what that means for the 67 million people on that grid, why New York just enacted the first statewide moratorium on hyperscale facilities, and how 23 states are quietly rewriting the rules on who absorbs the cost of the AI buildout. Hosted by Chris and Laura. The DX Today Podcast brings you daily deep dives into the most consequential stories in the AI ecosystem. #AI #DataCenters #EnergyPolicy #AIInfrastructure #Utilities