18/05/2026
POST #22 Behind the Meter, Front of the Meter, and a $5,015 Parcel
In December 2025 the federal government changed the rules for how a power plant can sell electricity directly to a single customer instead of putting it on the grid. In February 2026 BGE filed a $263.5 million substation expansion to do exactly that — on Constellation land at Calvert Cliffs, for a load larger than anything that has been publicly disclosed in Calvert County. This week, a 17.97-acre parcel sitting under a recorded utility right-of-way in the exact corridor that infrastructure runs through goes to public auction for $5,015.
I want to walk through what the documents say, because the pieces only make sense when you put them together.
1️⃣ The 2024 Fight That Nobody Was Told Was Happening
For most of 2024, Constellation Energy was working to sell electricity from its nuclear plants directly to data center customers without putting that electricity on the grid. This is called “behind-the-meter” — the plant generates power, the data center sits next door, the electricity never enters the transmission system that serves the rest of us.
In November 2024 the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission rejected an interconnection service agreement between PJM, Talen Energy, and PPL that would have facilitated expanded behind-the-meter sales to a co-located Amazon data center at the Susquehanna nuclear plant in Pennsylvania. The vote was 2-1. American Electric Power and Exelon had argued the arrangement could shift up to $140 million in annual transmission costs to other ratepayers across the PJM region.
Source: https://www.utilitydive.com/news/ferc-interconnection-isa-talen-amazon-data-center-susquehanna-exelon/731841/
Maryland’s General Assembly was watching. In the 2024 legislative session, the House amended Senate Bill 1 — a retail electricity consumer protection bill — to address behind-the-meter arrangements that would pull electricity off the grid for a single customer without contributing to grid costs. Constellation publicly opposed those amendments. The final bill, signed as Chapter 537 of the 2024 session, directed the Maryland Public Service Commission to study co-location and report its findings to the General Assembly.
Source: Maryland Matters, “The strange journey of Senate Bill 1” — https://marylandmatters.org/2024/04/08/the-strange-journey-of-senate-bill-1/
The Maryland PSC issued that study on December 17, 2024, under Administrative Docket PC 61.
Source: Maryland PSC, Report on Co-Location, Senate Bill 1/Chapter 537, Section 6 —https://www.pscmaryland.com/wp-content/uploads/SB1-MD-PSC-Report-on-Co-location-V4_20241217.pdf
On November 22, 2024 — between the FERC rejection and the PSC report — Constellation Energy Generation filed its own complaint at FERC (Docket EL25-49) alleging that PJM’s tariff was “unjust, unreasonable, and unduly discriminatory” because it failed to establish rules governing service to load co-located with behind-the-meter generation. The complaint included correspondence between Constellation and Exelon utilities concerning possible co-located load at the Calvert Cliffs and Limerick nuclear power plants.
Source: Utility Dive — https://www.utilitydive.com/news/constellation-ferc-complaint-pjm-co-located-load-data-center/734001/
In the same month FERC rejected the Susquehanna deal — November 2024 — Constellation filed the first substation concept plan with Calvert County at 1650 Calvert Cliffs Parkway under application CSPR-143246. The infrastructure pathway had already started.
Source: https://www.calvertcountymd.gov/documentcenter/view/51677
2️⃣ The Front-of-the-Meter Workaround
On June 11, 2025, Talen and Amazon announced a restructured deal. Instead of behind-the-meter, they signed a 17-year, $18 billion power purchase agreement under which up to 1,920 megawatts of nuclear power would flow through the PJM grid to Amazon. That structure is called “front-of-the-meter.” Same physical arrangement — nuclear plant on one side, data center on the other — but on paper the electricity now technically passes through the grid. Talen will act as the retail power supplier to AWS; PPL Electric Utilities will be responsible for transmission and delivery.
Source: Power Magazine — https://www.powermag.com/talen-amazon-launch-18b-nuclear-ppa-a-grid-connected-ipp-model-for-the-data-center-era/
On December 18, 2025, FERC issued its order in the Constellation complaint proceeding consolidated with the show cause docket. The Commission found PJM’s existing tariff “unjust and unreasonable” and directed PJM to establish new transmission service categories for co-located loads based on the large load’s “net withdrawals from the system,” rather than requiring traditional front-of-the-meter network transmission service.
The new framework charges co-located customers based on what they pull from the broader grid — not on the full generation capacity they consume — because so much of the electricity is going directly to the customer next door without ever serving the rest of the system.
Source: Utility Dive, “FERC orders PJM to craft large load colocation rules” — https://www.utilitydive.com/news/ferc-pjm-colocation-data-center/808368/
So between November 2024 and December 2025, the federal regulatory pathway shifted from “you can’t do behind-the-meter cost-shifting without meeting a high burden” to “here is the new transmission service framework that lets co-located customers connect on a net-withdrawals basis.”
3️⃣ Camp Canoy: BGE’s $263.5 Million Filing
On February 3, 2026, BGE filed PJM Need Number BGE-2025-011 in Calvert County. I read the slides directly. Here is the language verbatim:
“Cut into existing 500kV Calvert Cliffs to Waugh Chapel and Calvert Cliffs to Chalk Point lines. Extend 4 lines 0.1 miles each to a new substation, Camp Canoy. Camp Canoy substation will be initially installed as a 3-bay breaker and a half configuration, ultimately expandable up to 5-bays. Install 1-175 MVAR, 500kV capacitor bank at new Camp Canoy substation. New customer will be radially served by two new 250 feet 500kV lines from new Camp Canoy substation to a customer owned substation. Estimated transmission cost: $263.5M.”
Source:https://www.pjm.com/-/media/DotCom/committees-groups/committees/teac/2026/20260203/20260203-item-09---bge-supplemental-projects.pdf
“Camp Canoy” is the land BGE purchased during the original construction of Calvert Cliffs Units 1 and 2 — originally a YMCA camp on the Chesapeake Bay shore — now Constellation property. Camp Conoy Road begins on HG Trueman Highway just north of Middleham Chapel.
The PJM slide does not provide a publicly disclosed total load figure on its face, but the substation is described as “ultimately expandable up to 5 bays” with a 175 MVAR capacitor bank — engineering that supports a load substantially larger than the 500 MW publicly described for the Amazon site or the 300 MW publicly described for Natelli.
The “customer owned substation” referenced in the BGE filing is the CSPR-143246 substation already in Calvert County planning since November 2024 at 1650 Calvert Cliffs Parkway. Two substations — one new from BGE, one already being permitted by Constellation — on the same property.
4️⃣ Three Layers at One Address
At 1650 Calvert Cliffs Parkway, three layers of infrastructure are in active planning right now.
The 988-acre data center site filed under MDE Tracking No. 202561277 (filed September 5, 2025 by WSSI for Minut Developers LLC). The site sits in a 100-year floodplain. The adjacent waterbody Johns Creek carries a TMDL impairment for biological conditions and metals. National Wetlands Inventory and DNR wetlands are present. Sensitive and endangered species concerns are flagged as Group 3. Maryland Historical Trust flagged the site for archaeological resources. Retention ponds triggered a dam safety review.
Source: MDE Wetlands and Waterways Search Portal, Tracking No. 202561277 — https://mdewin64.mde.state.md.us/ECollaboration/SearchPortal.aspx
The CSPR-143246 substation site plan, filed November 2024 by AECOM Technical Services for Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant, LLC. 780.59 acres zoned I-2 Heavy Industrial. A general note on the plan states: “No sanitary service is anticipated for this project; however, water service will be required.”
Source: https://www.calvertcountymd.gov/documentcenter/view/51677
The new Camp Canoy substation under BGE-2025-011, filed February 2026.
The neighbors of all of this have a name. Karl Ellwein of Neighbors of Camp Canoy Road spoke at the April 15, 2026 joint meeting of the Calvert Planning Commission and Environmental Commission. He said: “What we have is existing quiet and the impact of what they want to build is dramatic. We know that’s going to be loud.”
Source: SoMD News — https://www.somdnews.com/recorder/news/local/environmental-panel-presents-data-center-recommendations-in-calvert/article_c8f8427d-40e4-489e-9ae0-16897110c9e5.html
5️⃣ What This Costs the People Who Already Live Here
On April 28, 2026, SMECO briefed the Board of County Commissioners. SMECO is the cooperative that serves 161,000 members across Calvert, Charles, Prince George’s, and St. Mary’s counties.
Source: SMECO Calvert County Commissioners Data Center Briefing — https://www.calvertcountymd.gov/DocumentCenter/View/54435/SMECO_data_center_presentation
SMECO told the commissioners that PJM wholesale capacity prices have risen from $28.92 per megawatt-day in 2020 to a projected $329.17 per megawatt-day for the 2026-2027 delivery year. That is an 800 percent increase. PJM spokesman Daniel Lockwood publicly attributed it to “unprecedented and continuing growth in demand from the proliferation of high-demand data centers in the region.”
Source: PJM Inside Lines — https://insidelines.pjm.com/pjm-auction-procures-134311-mw-of-generation-resources-supply-responds-to-price-signal/
What SMECO did not emphasize in that briefing, but PJM’s own announcement does: the BGE zone, which Calvert County sits in for transmission purposes, did not clear at $329.17. It cleared at $466.35 per megawatt-day — higher than the cap — because the BGE zone is capacity-constrained.
Maryland has retired approximately 6,700 megawatts of generation since 2018 and added only 1,600 to 1,700 megawatts. That is a net deficit of about 5,000 megawatts before any new data center load is added.
SMECO told commissioners on April 28 that it “does not have unilateral authority to enforce cost-sharing measures beyond existing law.” The law that would govern cost-sharing — SMECO’s own large-load tariff — is required to be filed with the Maryland Public Service Commission by September 1, 2026.
The infrastructure is being approved before the rules that determine who pays for it are written.
On March 24, 2026, Tom Natelli Jr. told the Calvert Board of County Commissioners: “We are required to pay for our connection. Existing rate payers will not be subsidizing these large loads.”
Source: SoMD News — https://www.somdnews.com/recorder/news/local/data-center-developer-proposes-site-and-park-in-lusby/article_1f85b73c-235a-4d24-93df-4f42d2246c59.html
That promise will be measurable in writing on September 1, 2026, when SMECO files its tariff. As of today, it is a verbal commitment made by a developer at a county commissioners’ meeting. As covered in posts #10, #11, and #19, this is the same county where developer commitments have already required public records requests to verify.
6️⃣ The Parcel: $5,015 to Enter the Corridor
On Friday, May 22, 2026, at 10:00 a.m., Calvert County will hold its annual tax sale at the County Administration Building, 150 Main St., Prince Frederick.
Source: https://www.calvertcountymd.gov/m/newsflash/home/detail/3126
One parcel on that list is 9400 H G Trueman Rd, Lusby. Account 01-021125. The opening bid is $5,015.16 on a parcel assessed at $196,500.
Source: Calvert County Tax Sale Property Viewer (picture attached) — https://geocortex.calvertcountymd.gov/
The parcel is 17.97 acres, vacant, with no primary structure. The owner of record passed away decades ago. The last transfer was in 1989 between family members. The estate is administered from a mailing address in Towson, Baltimore County, 75 miles from the parcel. The parcel is flagged with an unpaid Agricultural Transfer Tax recapture.
Source: Maryland SDAT, Account 01-021125 (picture attached) — https://sdat.dat.maryland.gov/RealProperty
I pulled the 1989 deed at Liber 483, page 661 of the Calvert County land records. The deed expressly excludes a 1977 conveyance to Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative recorded at Liber 208, page 800.
I then pulled Liber 208, page 800. It is a 200-foot wide transmission right-of-way granted by Undine H. Prince to Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative, Inc., recorded March 28, 1977. The grant includes “the right, from time to time, to cut down, trim, remove and keep cut all trees and brush upon the land adjoining the Property, which might... interfere with, or be liable to interfere with, or fall upon, any poles, structures, wires, cables, conduits or other improvements which the Grantee, its successors or assigns, may at any time or times construct or maintain upon, over, or under the property.” The associated plat at page 802 labels the easement “PROPOSED 200′ RIGHT OF WAY UNDINE H. PRINCE.”
Source: MDLandRec (pictures attached) — https://mdlandrec.net
The parcel sits directly along the 500 kV transmission corridor that exits Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant and runs westward across HG Trueman Road. Calvert County’s own GIS labels an adjacent feature “BG&E Field.” The Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s environmental documents for Calvert Cliffs confirm that “BGE holds title to the land beneath the South Circuit line” and that the two 500 kV circuits exiting CCNPP run parallel for approximately 9 miles before diverging. The width of that combined right-of-way is documented at 350 to 400 feet.
Source:https://www.nrc.gov/reactors/operating/licensing/renewal/applications/calvert-cliffs/ccv3.pdf
Southern Middle School sits directly across HG Trueman Road from the parcel — the same school proximity flagged in Post #15.
On Friday, the opening bid to acquire this 17.97-acre parcel, in this corridor, with this recorded utility easement, is $5,015.16.
7️⃣ What I Am Not Saying, and What I Am
I am not saying BGE or SMECO is bidding on this parcel. I have no documentation of any utility’s intent. I am not saying anyone will bid. The tax sale is public; anyone can.
I am saying that the federal regulatory pathway for routing nuclear-plant electricity to a single co-located customer was rebuilt in December 2025. I am saying BGE filed in February 2026 to spend $263.5 million on Constellation land at Calvert Cliffs to do exactly that. I am saying the rules that determine whether SMECO’s 161,000 ratepayers — across four counties — subsidize that infrastructure are not filed with the Maryland Public Service Commission until September 1, 2026. I am saying BGE-zone wholesale capacity prices have already cleared at $466.35 per megawatt-day for next year, higher than the regulator’s cap, in a state that imports 40 percent of its electricity.
And I am saying that on Friday at 10:00 a.m., 17.97 acres under a 1977 SMECO transmission right-of-way, in the exact corridor where this is all converging, opens for public bidding at $5,015.16.
Documents are linked. Pictures are attached. Read them yourself.
I’ll leave you with one last question - why no BOCC meetings for the next two weeks? If someone is out of the county I say we have it anyway! Only takes three right?
