(WAND) – Gov. JB Pritzker joined a bipartisan group of governors and the mayor of Washington, D.C., to create a multistate organization focused on electricity costs and reliability in the regional power grid serving northern Illinois.
Pritzker announced the new PJM Governors’ Collaborative during the 2026 Governors’ Summit on the State of PJM in Illinois.
The group signed a memorandum of understanding to formally establish the collaborative. Officials said it will give states a place to work together on issues involving PJM Interconnection, the regional grid operator that manages the flow of electricity across all or parts of 13 states and the District of Columbia.
PJM’s decisions can affect power reliability and electricity prices for millions of families and businesses, including those in northern Illinois.
“Families and businesses in Illinois depend on an electric grid that is reliable and affordable, and the decisions made at PJM have an enormous impact on both,” Pritzker said in a statement. “Through this collaborative, we’re advocating for what our people deserve: a grid operator who meets growing electricity demand, maintains reliability, and keeps costs under control.”
The collaborative will allow governors and their staffs to share information, develop joint positions on PJM issues and coordinate with PJM, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, state utility commissions and other energy-policy organizations.
The governor’s office said the effort comes as states raise concerns about rising electricity costs, grid reliability and delays in building needed transmission lines.
Pritzker has previously called for PJM to be more accountable and transparent. In August, he joined other governors in submitting recommendations to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. In April, he called on PJM to prevent data center electricity use from raising costs for consumers, according to his office.
The collaborative includes Illinois and governors from Delaware, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia and New Jersey.
