FERC keeps ComEd on the hook for a $20 billion data center backed by $1
FERC has left Commonwealth Edison bound to a transmission contract for a 1.8-GW, $20 billion data center whose developer says a $1 posting met its initial credit requirement. The credit fight now belongs to a federal judge, and Exelon's shareholders are watching from 61 cents above a 52-week low.
Vincent Jiang · 3 min read
A dollar holds 1.8 gigawatts of grid
On Sept. 22 the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission rejected Commonwealth Edison's notice of cancellation of the transmission security agreement behind a 1.8-GW, $20 billion data center PowerHouse Hillwood is developing in Joliet, Illinois 1. The developer contends a $1 posting met the deal's initial credit requirements 1. Commissioner David LaCerte called that "an embarrassing legal fiction," security worth less than a cup of coffee for a project whose real risk lands on the grid 1.
Shareholders hold the buildout
ComEd is Exelon's northern Illinois utility, inside a company with a nearly $42 billion, four-year grid capital plan 2. Exelon closed Sept. 25 at $40.34, 61 cents above its 52-week low, after second-quarter adjusted earnings of $0.43 a share missed consensus by a cent and Argus and Morgan Stanley cut their price targets to $49 and $50 3. Management held full-year guidance of $2.81 to $2.91 3.
FERC punted, so the contract stands
The commission declined primary jurisdiction and left the credit question to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, where PowerHouse Hillwood has sued 14. Chairman Laura Swett and Commissioner Lindsay See pointed to the show cause orders FERC issued June 18 to six grid operators 15, and Commissioner David Rosner said the risks belong "with the developer, not the public" 1. Operators owe answers by mid-November 14.
A reserved gigawatt runs a quarter billion; Joliet posted a dollar
Customers holding signed transmission security agreements, about 4 GW of load, have posted $1 billion in collateral, CFO Jeanne Jones said July 30 2. On Exelon's own books, that makes a reserved gigawatt cost about $250 million. Joliet posted a dollar 1.
Six projects account for that billion in letters of credit 6, and the queue behind it is thinning: Exelon's "high probability" data center load has fallen from 18 GW to about 11 GW this year, its study pipeline from about 43 GW to about 25 GW 2. The spending keeps outrunning the cash that funds it:
Grid capex has outrun operating cash in seven of the last eight quarters
- Capex
- Operating cash flow
Data
| Capex | Operating cash flow | |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 '24 | $1.7B | $1.69B |
| Q4 '24 | $1.94B | $1.43B |
| Q1 '25 | $1.95B | $1.2B |
| Q2 '25 | $2.01B | $1.51B |
| Q3 '25 | $2.14B | $2.3B |
| Q4 '25 | $2.43B | $1.24B |
| Q1 '26 | $2.36B | $1.72B |
| Q2 '26 | $2.2B | $1.95B |
PowerHouse Hillwood, a joint venture of PowerHouse Data Centers and Hillwood Corp., told FERC the fight is over when a security deposit was due, not how much, and accuses ComEd of wielding monopoly power "as a bludgeon" 4. FERC ruled only that a judge should decide, not that the dollar covers anything 1.
November's answers show whether the audit took hold
Mid-November brings the grid operators' answers on pro forma cost recovery agreements, where security requirements get written 15. The tell is the next TSA filed in PJM: a gigawatt backed by a quarter billion means the audit took hold, and a gigawatt backed by a dollar means the legal fiction LaCerte named is spreading 1.
How this brief was made
01Gathered & sourced290 channels · 2,394 articles▾
Agents swept 290 channels and ingested 2,394 articles, then de-duplicated and ranked them for signal.
02Verified & cross-validated7 claims · 38 data feeds▾
Every one of 7 load-bearing claims was checked against primary sources, with 38 live data feeds reconciling the figures and charts.
- 1Utility Dive, FERC rejects ComEd's cancellation of PowerHouse Hillwood data center contract, Sept. 23, 2026
- 2Utility Dive, Exelon 'high probability' data center load falls 40%, July 31, 2026
- 3Ad Hoc News, Exelon stock faces lower targets after Q2 earnings miss, Sept. 28, 2026
- 4Utility Dive, Microsoft, PowerHouse Hillwood dispute data center service agreements, Aug. 24, 2026
- 5Utility Dive, What data center developers need to know about FERC's large load directives, July 16, 2026
- 6The Real Deal, ComEd weeding out speculative data centers as power grid pressure mounts, Sept. 15, 2026
- 7Sharadar quarterly fundamentals, from Exelon Corporation's SEC filings, retrieved Sept. 28, 2026
03Reviewed & edited1 human editor▾
One editor read the draft against the evidence, tuned the framing, and signed off before it shipped.
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