Abbott Directs Agencies To Stop Data Centers From Raising Your Electric Bill
Texas Governor Greg Abbott has directed the state's Public Utility Commission and ERCOT to implement measures protecting residential customers from data center electricity costs. The agencies are taking steps to ensure data centers pay for their infrastructure, contribute to lower bills, and do not overburden the state's grid. They also propose legislative actions for further protections.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott has instructed the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) to protect residential customers from increasing electric bills due to data center expansion. This directive, issued on June 10, mandates that data centers cover the costs of the electric infrastructure they utilize and ensure their grid connection benefits residential ratepayers.
In response, the PUCT and ERCOT have outlined several steps. These include requiring data centers to pay for transmission infrastructure built for their service and contribute to reducing residential electric bills. New regulations are being implemented to prevent large data centers from drawing power away from the ERCOT grid, prioritizing Texas households. Furthermore, the agencies have initiated a new interconnection screening process to prevent grid overburdening and are revising how data centers pay for necessary infrastructure. ERCOT's development evaluation and long-term planning efforts for data centers have also been enhanced.
Additional measures involve establishing stricter standards for data center grid connections and requiring new data centers to quickly reduce power consumption when directed by ERCOT. The agencies have also recommended legislative actions for the upcoming session, such as expanding the Lone Star Infrastructure Protection Act to include large data centers to safeguard against foreign threats to the state grid. They also urged lawmakers to clarify the authority of the PUCT and ERCOT to impose additional reliability requirements on data centers and to mandate data center registration for tracking water and electricity usage. Governor Abbott affirmed his commitment to working with the Legislature to codify these protections into state law.