What power costs now

Data Desk · Part 06Power

Two prices tell the story of the bottleneck: what the grid charges to guarantee capacity, and what a buyer pays to get compute now rather than later.

As of Aug 12, 2026 · with each PJM auction and each Nebius quote · published Aug 12, 2026 · read Sep 19, 2026 · observed · next release Dec 9, 2026

What the chart says. Grid capacity prices rose more than elevenfold in three auctions, and buyers pay double to skip the queue. Power is not a cost line in this cycle. It is the scarce asset, priced by whoever needs it soonest.

Source: PJM capacity auctions; IEEFA (63% of the increase, $9.3 billion, attributed to data centers); Nebius pricing as described by Michael Burry, August 12, 2026.

Show the data table

PJM capacity price, dollars per megawatt-day	Value
2024/25 auction	$28.92
2025/26 auction	$269.92
2026/27 auction	$329.17

Nebius compute price, millions of dollars per megawatt	Range
One-to-three-year contract	$20M to $25M
Delivery within six months	$40M to $50M

Read Part 06: Power Doesn’t Depreciate. Its Premium Moves.

PJM capacity price, dollars per megawatt-day

2024/25 auction$28.92
2025/26 auction$269.92
2026/27 auction$329.17

PJM capacity cleared at $329.17 a megawatt-day in the latest auction, 11.4 times the $28.92 of two auctions earlier. IEEFA attributes 63% of the jump to data centers.