The PUC and the Railroad Commission have received budget boosts for the fiscal biennium, which begins this month.
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The state’s two principal regulatory agencies for utility issues – the Public Utility Commission of Texas and the Railroad Commission of Texas – have received budget boosts beginning this month.
The PUC, the state agency responsible for overseeing electricity and water utilities, was granted a two-year legislative appropriation of $82.4 million — or 23.7 more than the agency’s previous two-year appropriation. The Railroad Commission, the state agency responsible for overseeing the oil and gas industry — including gas utilities — received a $593 million appropriation for the upcoming biennium, or 23 percent more than its previous amount.
The new budgets cover the 2026 and 2026 fiscal years, with the 2026 fiscal year beginning on Sept 1.
Public Utility Commission of Texas
Under the PUC’s new budget, the agency received funding for the following:
- $4 million for a case management system to improve data collection and the agency’s contested case process, fulfilling a Sunset Commission recommendation from the 88th Texas Legislative session in 2023.
- A one-time appropriation of $500,000 to refresh of the Power to Choose website, which was last updated in 2015. Power to Choose is the agency’s retail electric shopping website.
- Authorization for 55 new hires across multiple divisions.
Separate from the agency’s baseline budget, the Texas Legislature also has appropriated $5 billion as the second tranche of funding for the Texas Energy Fund, which is a subsidy program to promote the development of dispatchable generation.
Railroad Commission of Texas
The Railroad Commission’s new two-year appropriation includes $100 million for oil and gas well plugging, an amount described by the agency as the largest ever appropriation for that purpose from the Texas Legislature.
The RRC’s new budget also includes:
- $16.7 million for data reporting systems to track produced water, authorized pits registrations, oversight and safety regulatory filing and permitting.
- More than $2 million for upgrades to the agency’s cloud-based geographic information systems.
- $1.3 million to establish an Underground Injection Well Investigation Team.
The new appropriations were included in the state’s biennial budget, which was adopted as Senate Bill 1 during the 89th Texas Legislature that adjourned in June.