PJM’s Emergency Load Response Program (ELRP): Emergency Event Types

PJM’s Emergency Load Response Program (ELRP) used to only call Category 2 events, full emergencies where a Performance Assessment Interval (PAI) applies and participants’ performance directly impacts their capacity payments.

Recently, PJM added Category 1 events (Non-PAI). These are lower-level emergencies which are still important, but not severe enough to trigger a PAI. In a Category 1 event, PJM still requests load reductions to help stabilize the grid, but performance is not financially settled the same way as a Category 2 event.

	Emergency Category 1 (Non-PAI)	Emergency Category 2 (PAI)
What is it?	An emergency event with a lower trigger than a Category 2, requiring only demand response participants to curtail	A traditional emergency event, requiring all PJM participants (not just demand response participants) to curtail
How does it affect capacity payments?	May not set participants’ ELRP capacity performance and payments for the delivery year	Sets participants’ ELRP capacity performance and payments for the delivery year
What payment type is earned?	Participants earn energy payments	Participants earn energy payments
How does it impact audits?	Enel can decide to use event performance or replace with an audit performance, with the ability to retest	Event performance always overrides audit performance – if the participant has not yet been audited, there is no need for an audit later in the delivery year
If multiple events, how are capacity payments calculated?	Enel chooses which event (or audit) sets capacity performance and payments at the dispatch zonal level	All dispatch hours across multiple events are averaged to calculate capacity performance and payments
What happens if you underperform?	Underperformance adjustment = MW shortfall x the participant’s capacity payment rate	Underperformance adjustment = MW shortfall x PJM’s non-performance charge rate

Why the Change?

• Allows PJM to respond to different levels of system stress more flexibly
• Gives participants more opportunities to support grid reliability without the higher stakes of a PAI
• Helps prevent small issues from growing into full emergencies

How Events Affect Capacity Payments

The biggest difference between the two emergency categories is how capacity performance is measured and how that impacts earnings.

Category 1 (Non-PAI) Events

• Enel will select a single Category 1 event to represent the entire year’s capacity performance for your dispatch zone.
• Alternatively, Enel may choose to use results from a PJM-scheduled audit.
• This decision (event vs. audit) cannot be made at a single site or account level; it is done considering Enel’s whole portfolio.
• In the event of underperformance, Enel may follow PJM’s standard retest process to selectively retest sites. 

Category 2 (PAI) Events

• Performance across all Category 2 events counts toward capacity earnings.
• All event hours (across multiple events, if more than one occurs) are averaged together to set capacity performance. This performance directly drives capacity payments

When Will Performance Be Finalized?

Keep in mind, Enel can’t definitively say which Category 1 event (or audit) will be used to determined capacity earnings until late in the delivery year as more events may be called. This ensures Enel selects the single event or audit that best represents the aggregation’s performance.

Key Takeaways

• Category 1 (Non-PAI): Enel will select one event OR an audit to set capacity performance for the year.
• Category 2 (PAI): All event hours are averaged → that average sets capacity performance and affects payments.
• Enel won’t know which Category 1 event or audit will set earnings until late in the delivery year, since more events could still be called.