Power Grid Auction Strategy: What Is a Plant Worth?

The auction is the one phase of Power Grid where you can spend money against other players directly. It is also where new players lose the most cash, by winning a plant they paid too much for, or by watching a rival get a great plant cheap. This lesson gives you a way to value a plant and a few moves that shape the phase.

The rules that shape every auction

From the Recharged rulebook:

• Players open plants in player order, so the leader opens first.
• Only the current market is for sale: 4 plants before Step 3, all 6 in Step 3.
• Bids go clockwise. Pass, and you are out of that auction.
• Each player buys at most one plant per round. Once you have one, you are out of the phase.
• If you win the plant you opened, the next player without a plant opens. If someone else wins it, you open again.
• You may pass on opening, which takes you out of the phase.
• The last player without a plant can buy any current plant at its minimum.

That last rule matters more than it looks. If you are the only player left, there is no auction. You pay the printed number.

What a plant is worth to you

Start from what it adds, not from its number. Ask:

1. Cities added. How many more cities can you power with it, given the plant it replaces and the cities you own or will own soon?
2. Income added. Use the payout card lesson: what do those extra cities pay per round, and for how many rounds?
3. Fuel cost. How much does it burn, and what does that fuel cost on today’s market and in the fuel forecast?
4. What else it does. A higher number wins turn order ties. A plant that leaves the market is one a rival cannot buy.

Your top price is the point where those benefits stop beating cash in hand. Decide it before the bidding starts, not during.

What a plant is worth to the others

Now look at the table:

• Who is still in the phase? Players who already bought a plant cannot bid. Players who passed cannot either.
• Who needs this plant? A player with more cities than capacity needs capacity now. A player who already burns this fuel may avoid it.
• Who can afford it? If you have tracked cash, you know roughly who can outbid you.

If the only player still in the phase cannot afford more than the minimum, you can open at the minimum and probably win.

Opening a plant you do not want

Since you open again when someone else wins your plant, you can open a plant to make a rival pay for it. If a rival needs a big plant badly, opening it at its number forces them to spend now. You then open the plant you want, with one less bidder and that rival’s money gone.

The risk is plain: nobody bids, and you own it at your opening price. Only open a plant you would accept at that price.

Waiting for the next plant

When you pass on opening, you are out for the round. That can be right:

• The market is weak for you, and you have enough capacity this round.
• A better plant is coming. The future market shows what enters the current market as plants are bought. The back of the top card of the draw pile shows whether a small plant is next.
• Cash matters more this round, for fuel or for building before Step 2.

But remember the leader opens first. If you are leading and pass, the players behind you choose from the same market with full information.

The discount plant

At the start of each auction phase, the smallest current plant opens at 1 Elektro. Three uses:

• A bargain. When the smallest plant still helps you, it is the cheapest capacity in the game.
• A tempo buy. Buying it takes you out of the phase early and cheaply, so you keep cash for fuel and cities.
• A clock. If nobody buys it, it leaves the game at the end of the phase. Passing on it moves the market toward bigger plants.

The fourth plant

Buy a fourth plant and you must scrap one at once. Its fuel can move to your other plants if they can store it; otherwise it returns to the supply. Before you bid on a plant you will slot over an old one, move what fuel you can in your head first, so the scrap does not waste markers you paid for.

Bidding manners

Say your bid out loud and clearly. Raise by small steps when only one rival remains, since every Elektro over their limit is wasted. And when the bidding passes your top price, let it go. The player who wins a plant by 10 Elektro too many often loses the game by less than that.