PJM's benchmark Western Hub and three other trading hubs on one axis: settled real-time against the day-ahead clearing price, with the track record of the spread between them.
What will power cost in PJM?
PJM hub prices peaks at $125 on Thu, 11 PM, against a low of $-58.46 — a swing of $183 across the window. Western Hub is the heaviest area at 356 $/MWh.
Every line above, and who produced it.
The settled real-time price at this hub. Source: PJM.
The settled real-time price at this hub. Source: PJM.
The settled real-time price at this hub. Source: PJM.
The settled real-time price at this hub. Source: PJM.
Congestion is why these price apart. Each hub’s settled price with every forecast published for it.
Each day of the window on its own.
Every hour of the window, shaded by load.
| 0 | 6 | 12 | 18 | |||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thu, 8/27 |
| Hub | Peak ($/MWh) | Peak hour | Low ($/MWh) | Average ($/MWh) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Western Hub | 356 | Thu, 4 PM | 18 | 56 |
| Eastern Hub | 125 | Thu, 11 PM | -58 | 26 |
| N. Illinois Hub | 287 | Thu, 4 PM | -39 | 46 |
| Dominion Hub | 407 | Thu, 4 PM | 19 | 61 |
| Forecast | Produced by | Method | Horizon |
|---|---|---|---|
| Eastern Hub settled | PJM | PJM day-ahead hourly and real-time five-minute LMPs at the trading hubs | Day-ahead clears once daily; real-time settles every five minutes |
| N. Illinois Hub settled | PJM | PJM day-ahead hourly and real-time five-minute LMPs at the trading hubs | Day-ahead clears once daily; real-time settles every five minutes |
| Dominion Hub settled | PJM | PJM day-ahead hourly and real-time five-minute LMPs at the trading hubs | Day-ahead clears once daily; real-time settles every five minutes |
PJM publishes cleared prices, not probabilistic forecasts, so no band is shown. Real-time diverges hardest from day-ahead during fast weather and forced outages — the exact hours the spread matters most.
PJM's Western Hub is the most heavily traded electricity price in North America — the benchmark forwards, futures, and hedges settle against. This page plots it, and three other hubs spanning the footprint, in both markets: what real time settled and what day-ahead cleared for the same hours.
PJM's day-ahead market is a financially binding auction that clears the day before delivery. Its prices carry the market's collective expectation plus risk premia — the reason day-ahead runs persistently a little above real time in quiet conditions, and the reason the relationship inverts when stress arrives unforecast.
Congestion splits the footprint: N. Illinois clears against Midwest wind and nuclear, Dominion against Virginia's data-center load growth, the Eastern Hub against the Mid-Atlantic load pocket. The spreads between hubs are the market's map of which transmission is binding.
curl "https://askthegrid.com/api/v1/grid/series?iso=PJM&metric=dam&node=WESTERN%20HUB"
Connect your agent to mcp.askthegrid.com and this forecast is a tool call away — the same host Claude and ChatGPT connectors already use.
An aggregate of hundreds of buses across Pennsylvania and the Alleghenies that serves as PJM's — and effectively the country's — benchmark power price. Futures and forward contracts for eastern US power settle against it.
Day-ahead clears on expectations and hedging positions; real time clears on actual conditions. Weather misses, forced outages, and data-center load surprises all move real time away from the day-ahead price — the spread virtual traders position against.
It rotates with congestion. The Eastern Hub and Dominion tend to price highest when Mid-Atlantic load pockets bind; N. Illinois clears lowest when Midwest wind is strong. The spread table above shows the current answer rather than a generalization.
Plotted window Aug 27, 3:00 AM EDT → Aug 28, 2:55 AM EDT. Real-time updates continuously; day-ahead once per day.
| Fri, 8/28 |
|---|
Darkest cells are the tightest hours. The window peaks at 125 $/MWh on Thu, 11 PM, local to the market.