June 4, 2026 | Source: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Docket No. RM26-4-000; NERC Level 3 Essential Action Alert
FERC's Large Load Rule Is Due This Month. The Clock Is Running on RM26-4.
On April 16, 2026, FERC publicly committed to act by June 2026 on the Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in Docket No. RM26-4-000 — the large load interconnection proceeding initiated by the U.S. Secretary of Energy in October 2025.
That deadline is now. The docket covers how loads greater than 20 MW — data centers chief among them — interconnect to the interstate transmission system. Commission staff have reviewed more than 3,500 pages of public comments.
FERC has already moved on pieces of this: a December 2025 order directing PJM to write transparent co-location rules, and January 2026 approval of SPP's High Impact Large Load (HILL) framework. Chairman Laura V. Swett has framed the June action as the centerpiece of the Commission's response to demand growth.
What This Means in the Control Room and the Planning Department
If you operate or plan transmission, this rule will likely touch your interconnection queue, your study assumptions, and your cost allocation practices. DOE's principles on the table include 60-day studies for flexible loads that agree to curtail, and full upgrade-cost responsibility for the loads driving them.
This isn't happening in a vacuum. NERC issued a Level 3 Essential Action Alert in May urging seven actions on emerging large loads, paired with a new Reliability Guideline on risk mitigation. Registered entity responses are due August 3, 2026.
Practical read: whatever FERC issues this month — NOPR or final action — the compliance and planning workload lands in the same window as your NERC alert response. Map your large load exposure now, before the paper arrives.
EPG Solutions Can Help
Knowing where your utility stands on large load readiness — queue volumes, study timelines, interconnection cost exposure — against peer systems is exactly what EPG Solutions' proprietary benchmark intelligence reports were built for. Visit EPG Solutions → epgsolutions.services