Executive Summary
On June 18, 2026, FERC issued six tailored show cause orders under Section 206 of the Federal Power Act, one to each of the country’s regional grid operators, directing them to either justify their existing large load interconnection tariffs or file revisions within 60 days. All five commissioners concurred, signaling unanimous bipartisan urgency on an issue that has been building for two years. FERC chose show cause proceedings over a traditional rulemaking specifically to move faster. The orders define a large load as any facility exceeding 50 MW on transmission lines greater than 69 kV. The practical effect is that every major RTO and ISO now faces a deadline to either defend or change how data centers and other large loads connect to the grid.
What Happened
FERC’s June 18, 2026, action was the culmination of a proceeding that started with a DOE Section 403 directive issued October 23, 2025, which instructed FERC to consider an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on large load interconnection. That ANOPR docket, RM26-4-000, generated more than 3,500 pages of public comments. FERC reviewed those comments and, rather than issuing a single nationwide rulemaking, chose to open six separate proceedings under Section 206.
The six orders went to PJM, MISO, SPP, CAISO, ISO New England, and NYISO, plus their transmission owners. Each order is tailored to that…
