Houston Business Journal: Texans face potential electricity price surge as power demand skyrockets
Houston Business Journal: Texans face potential electricity price surge as power demand skyrocketsAug. 14 — With new data center developments, population growth and the electrification of oil fields, power demand growth is tightening the electricity market. Here’s what experts predict for the coming years.
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Texas Standard: Public Utility Commission sues Paxton’s office over release of crypto miners’ power usage
Texas Standard: Public Utility Commission sues Paxton’s office over release of crypto miners’ power usageAug. 13 — The Public Utility Commission of Texas is suing Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office to keep data about power consumption by large crypto miners out of the public eye. The PUC says that information could be used by terrorists to target Bitcoin data centers.
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Bloomberg: Appeals Court Upholds FCC Data Breach Rules for Hacked Telecoms
Bloomberg: Appeals Court Upholds FCC Data Breach Rules for Hacked TelecomsAug. 13 — A federal appeals court delivered a victory to the Federal Communications Commission on Wednesday by upholding new and controversial data breach reporting requirements for telecommunications companies targeted in cyberattacks.
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Statescoop: Varying state readings of new BEAD guidance is driving where vendors bid
Aug. 13 — Analysts say each state is interpreting the new BEAD guidance differently, influencing where service providers are bothering to apply.
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Houston Chronicle: Texas Lawmaker Urges Halt to Conroe Gas Compressor Station
Aug. 13 — A Texas lawmaker asks the Railroad Commission to block development of compressor station he says is dangerously close to homes.
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KHOU: Most Harris County voters skeptical of CenterPoint’s storm preparedness, survey finds
KHOU: Most Harris County voters skeptical of CenterPoint’s storm preparedness, survey findsAug. 12 — The University of Houston’s Hobby School of Public Affairs reports that 88% of registered voters in Harris County worry about an outage lasting longer than a day.
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Houston Public Media: Most Houston-area residents worry about power outages, have unfavorable opinion of CenterPoint, survey finds
Houston Public Media: Most Houston-area residents worry about power outages, have unfavorable opinion of CenterPoint, survey findsAug. 12 — The University of Houston Hobby School of Public Affairs found that 63% of Harris County voters have an unfavorable opinion of CenterPoint Energy, which supplies electricity to much of the region. Nearly 90% of survey respondents expressed some level of concern about power outages this summer.
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Utility Dive: Texas PUC executes $216M loan for NRG 456-MW gas plant
Aug. 12 — The loan is the second finalized under the Texas Energy Fund In-ERCOT Generation Loan Program, approved by voters in 2023.
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Broadband Breakfast: Local Governments Challenge FCC’s Use of Direct Final Rule
Broadband Breakfast: Local Governments Challenge FCC’s Use of Direct Final RuleAug. 11 — A coalition of cities and counties has urged the Federal Communications Commission to scrap its new fast-tracked rule repeal process, arguing that it shortchanges the public’s right to comment and improperly delegates key decisions to FCC staff.
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Fierce Network: States want more fiber for BEAD but eligible locations plummet
Fierce Network: States want more fiber for BEAD but eligible locations plummetAug. 11 — Fiber still seems to be the gameplan for states re-evaluating their buildout strategies for the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program. But initial bidding results are a mixed bag as fewer eligible locations are on the table.
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Broadband Breakfast: Local Governments Challenge FCC’s Use of Direct Final Rule
Aug. 11 — A coalition of cities and counties has urged the Federal Communications Commission to scrap its new fast-tracked rule repeal process, arguing that it shortchanges the public’s right to comment and improperly delegates key decisions to FCC staff.
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Utility Dive: Oncor has 200 GW of interconnection requests, company officials say
Aug. 11 — About 20% of the potential demand has signed contracts or is considered “high-confidence load,” CEO Allen Nye said.
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Industry Insider: Texas Energy Demand Expected to Grow at Average of 11 Percent Through 2026
IAug. 11 — A number of crypto mines have popped up in the last several years, and opponents claim these facilities soak up so much power that it strains the power grid.
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Public Knowledge: Public Interest Groups Decline To Seek Supreme Court Review of FCC Open Internet Rules
Aug. 8 — In April 2024, the Federal Communications Commission during the Biden administration properly declared that broadband internet access is a “telecommunications service.” That restored the agency’s jurisdiction over these crucial connections, allowing it to hold powerful companies accountable for providing internet-access service on just, reasonable, and nondiscriminatory terms. The FCC at that time also reinstated its Net Neutrality rules, and made allowance for a wide range of consumer protections to improve public safety, broadband reliability, and internet affordability.
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Broadband Breakfast: FCC Repeals 98 Antiquated Rules and Regulations
Aug. 7 — The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday repealed 98 rules and requirements, part of its ongoing effort to clean out regulations deemed ‘obsolete’ from the agency’s rulebooks.
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Utility Dive: Lawmaker, AARP call for nationwide utility commission reforms to stop rising electric bills
Aug. 8 — Utility commissions across the nation are “broken” and must be reformed to stop rising electric costs, a coalition of lawmakers, consumer and environmental advocates said Tuesday during a joint press conference.
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Texas Energy and Power Newsletter: Texas Texas’ Demand Growth Exceeds China’s: Grid Roundup #71
Texas Energy and Power Newsletter: Texas Texas’ Demand Growth Exceeds China’s: Grid Roundup #71Aug. 8 — Energy consumption growth for first half of 2025 is 70% higher in Texas than China; solar and wind have supplied almost all of the new demand; Texas large load queue swells to 188 gigawatts.
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Community Impact: Negotiations over $834M Oncor Electric increase likely to begin this fall
Community Impact: Negotiations over $834M Oncor Electric increase likely to begin this fallAug. 8 — Thomas Brocato, who serves as the general council to the Steering Committee, said to Community Impact the cities are in the process of gathering information to address Oncor Electric’s request to implement interim rates.
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Telecompetitor: Texas Benefit of the Bargain Round: $6.4B Requested by 70 Providers
Telecompetitor: Texas Benefit of the Bargain Round: $6.4B Requested by 70 ProvidersAug. 7 — The state poised to receive the largest amount of rural broadband funding in the Broadband, Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program — $3.3 billion — has closed its Benefit of the Bargain round.
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Utility Dive: In blow to some battery operators, Texas maintains non-spin reserve threshold
Aug. 7 — Experts said the decision could reduce non-spin reserves on the state’s electric grid and push some players out of state.
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Houston Public MediaNRG Energy receives up to $216M state loan to construct new natural gas units at Houston power plant
Houston Public MediaNRG Energy receives up to $216M state loan to construct new natural gas units at Houston power plantAug. 6 — The units, to be built at the TH Wharton Power Plant in Northwest Houston, will be designed to generate 456 megawatts of electricity for the region.
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Utility Dive: AEP expects to add 24 GW of load by 2030, mainly from data centers
Aug. 1 — More than half of the pending load is in Texas, where AEP Texas is set to interconnect 5 GW of cryptocurrency operations, per William Fehrman, AEP president and CEO.
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Houston Chronicle: CenterPoint Energy negotiating to raise Houston electric rates
Aug. 1 — The utility company is seeking to recoup $1.3 billion in costs it says were incurred to restore power after Hurricane Beryl and two other weather events. CenterPoint claims the proposed increase would cost the average household that uses 1,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity about $2.13 more per month.
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Houston Chronicle: Texas sets records for solar energy and battery use, proving the power of clean energy
Aug. 1 — Texas temperatures are rising, and so is the demand for electricity. But the grid is holding up great, thanks to record amounts of solar and battery-stored energy. At noon on July 29, solar facilities generated 29,275 megawatts of electricity, meeting more than 40% of the state’s demand, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas reported. That was enough electricity for 5.8 million homes.