PJM delivery year versus contract year

Which year does the capacity figure actually describe?

A capacity announcement contains at least two dates: when the auction result was published and the delivery year for which resources were procured. A hotel supply agreement introduces a third period, its own contract term. Those periods can differ substantially.

Start by writing the contract’s exact service dates and the delivery-year dates relevant to them. Do not label a figure 2026 capacity solely because the announcement appeared in 2026. The period in the market document determines the obligation it describes.

The markets hub connects this date review with wider energy decisions. A usable hotel forecast should explain when a capacity input becomes relevant and which contract provision, if any, passes it through to the customer.

How does the PJM framework organize delivery periods?

The PJM Reliability Pricing Model resource organizes capacity materials by delivery year. The capacity year follows a June-to-May period, which can differ from a hotel’s calendar-year budget or January renewal. Confirm the exact period in the applicable documents.

Build the crosswalk even when the supplier describes the product as fixed. That term does not establish whether capacity is included without change, separately reconciled, or treated under another clause. The executed cost schedule supplies the commercial treatment.

Do not substitute the delivery calendar for account-assignment dates. A contribution value can have its own effective record or correction. Retain the actual utility and supplier information needed to identify the assignment applicable to each charged period.

A capacity-period crosswalk divides a retail contract into segments with matching delivery-year obligations, account inputs, pricing bases, day counts, and contract treatment.

What does the July 2026 future-year result establish?

The 2028/2029 auction results report concerns a future delivery year even though the auction took place in July 2026. Use its identified period when planning. Its publication does not convert that result into the price for all capacity charges billed during 2026.

The capacity-price guide explains the broader market drivers. This crosswalk addresses a different question: which slice of an actual contract uses which inputs and whether the hotel bears the result under that agreement.

Keep a source-date column and a service-period column in the forecast. The distinction becomes especially useful when a contract extends across several future delivery years and some inputs are known while others remain assumptions.

What should the crosswalk show for every segment?

Add a status field identifying measured, confirmed, proposed, or assumed inputs. A future-year row can be useful for planning without being represented as a confirmed invoice amount.

Why do units and capacity bases need separate verification?

A hotel contribution expressed in kW and a price expressed per MW-day require a unit conversion. Divide kW by 1,000 to express the same quantity in MW. That arithmetic does not resolve whether the market price and account quantity use compatible capacity bases.

Auction reports can use UCAP while an account record or retail agreement uses another defined basis. Ask the supplier to document the actual conversion, adjustment, or settlement relationship in its formula. Do not invent a universal multiplier or copy another utility’s contribution method.

Use the capacity-tag definition to distinguish an assigned contribution from ordinary billing demand. A high demand reading on one hotel bill does not by itself identify the chargeable capacity quantity. The Duquesne Light account review provides one scoped utility example of why class, assigned contribution and retail treatment need separate records.

What does an assumed calendar-year example show?

Assume a fictional contract covers January 1 through December 31, 2027. The first segment, January through May, contains 151 days; June through December contains 214 days. Their sum is 365. These are calendar counts for this invented case, not a universal supplier billing convention.

Assume the fictional contract’s verified calculation basis is 200 kW, or 0.20 MW, for both segments. Assume fictional daily prices of $100 and $150 per MW-day that are already compatible with that calculation basis. No auction-price or UCAP conversion is being assumed implicitly.

The modeled first segment is 0.20 multiplied by $100 multiplied by 151, or $3,020. The second is 0.20 multiplied by $150 multiplied by 214, or $6,420. The total is $9,440. These teaching inputs are not current capacity quotes, a hotel tag, or an actual retail charge.

How does a one-price shortcut misstate that example?

Using the fictional first price for all 365 days produces 0.20 multiplied by $100 multiplied by 365, or $7,300. Under the stated assumptions, that shortcut understates the modeled total by $2,140 because it ignores the second segment’s different input.

A second scenario can change the account quantity as well as price. If a later period uses another confirmed assignment, the forecast needs that separate value. Do not average tags without determining whether the agreement actually allows such averaging.

The example also excludes taxes, compensation, transmission, energy, and other unspecified components. A correct capacity subtotal is not the complete electricity budget. Preserve those boundaries so management does not compare it directly with a full supply-rate amount.

What does wholesale billing guidance add?

The PJM billing and settlement resource provides wholesale references. Those materials help identify the market obligation and settlement context, but the hotel’s retail invoice still depends on its actual agreement and supplier calculation.

Request a reconciliation that shows how the wholesale basis reaches the customer. Identify the clause permitting any pass-through, the relevant source, conversion, account quantity, and correction process. A statement that the charge comes from PJM is not a complete explanation of its retail calculation.

For an inclusive product, determine whether the comparison already contains capacity in the quoted price. Adding an independently modeled capacity amount to that same price could count the component twice. Keep included and separately billed treatments distinct.

How should corrections and partial periods be handled?

A revised account assignment or supplier correction should identify the original period affected. Do not assume that the month of the credit is the period whose capacity input changed. Retain the original calculation and the replacement record.

For a midmonth start or stop, confirm the actual day-count convention in the agreement and invoice. The calendar is a useful check, but it cannot establish how a supplier handles partial service days or corrections. Reconcile both the dates and the contractual rule.

The wholesale-market guide explains why retail exposure depends on product treatment. The crosswalk should make that treatment observable rather than infer it from a market headline.

What should the owner receive before approving the forecast?

1. Record the contract’s actual service dates.
2. Split the term at relevant delivery-year boundaries.
3. Obtain account assignments and their effective records.
4. Confirm compatible units and capacity bases.
5. Apply the agreement’s inclusion or pass-through treatment.
6. Reconcile daily inputs and chargeable days.
7. Label future assumptions and preserve corrections.

Include broker compensation in the complete purchasing scope and count embedded components once. The final forecast should let a reviewer reproduce each segment and explain why the contract total differs from a single delivery-year figure. Known future results and unconfirmed later assumptions should remain separately identified.