Data centers in Texas

Texas law now requires loads of 75 MW or more, mostly data centers, to pay their own interconnection costs, post financial security, and accept curtailment in grid emergencies, instead of spreading those costs across everyone's delivery rates. The commission's implementing rulebook is due by the end of 2026; the ERCOT large load queue behind it grew to roughly 400 GW, mostly AI data centers.

Regulators approved recovery of nearly 1.5 billion dollars in repair costs from Hurricane Beryl, the May 2024 derecho and a January 2025 winter storm, financed like a long term loan and repaid through about 2 dollars a month on every Houston area bill for up to 15 years.

CenterPoint originally filed to raise Houston area delivery rates about 1.25 dollars a month, paused the case after Hurricane Beryl, and settled at a decrease of roughly a dollar a month for a 1,000 kWh household.

Oncor, the delivery utility for most of north and west Texas, asked for a delivery rate increase equal to about 4.7 percent of a typical total bill; cities negotiated it down and the settlement works out to about 3 percent of a typical 150 dollar total monthly bill, effective June 2026. Oncor cited storm restoration, inflation and a 36 billion dollar grid plan, not data centers.