The rising opposition to the Maryland Piedmont Reliability Project, a 67-mile, 500-kV transmission line, and general dissatisfaction with PJM and utility grid planning and interconnection policies, are driving new bills in the General Assembly.

The adoption of simple near-term rate reforms could help Massachusetts achieve its electrification goals while minimizing effects on ratepayers, an interagency working group concluded.

The data center dilemma centers first on a familiar mismatch of timescales. Utilities and their regulators tend to plan based on the small, incremental demand growth. But development and the power demand it generates move at ever-increasing digital speed.