Public Utility Commission of Texas

• Detected May 25, 2026

  Patrick RhodeAppointment

  Patrick Rhode was appointed to the Public Utility Commission of Texas.

Address

1701 North Congress Avenue, Austin, TX 78701-3326

Phone

(512) 936-7000Fax (512) 936-7003

Website

puc.texas.gov ↗

• May 29, 20269:30 AM
  Open Meeting

  Meeting · Austin, TX

• Jun 1, 20268:30 AM
  Technology and Security (T&S) Committee Meeting

  Meeting · Austin, TX

• Jun 1, 20269:30 AM
  Human Resources & Governance (HR&G) Committee Meeting

  Meeting · Austin, TX

• Jun 2, 202610:00 AM
  ERCOT Board of Directors Meeting (Reconvened)

  Meeting · Austin, TX

• Updated Jan 1, 2026

  58306 · Electric · Active

  Oncor Electric Delivery Rate Case

  Oncor sought a major distribution rate increase; parties reached a settlement of approximately $560 million in January 2026, pending PUCT approval. One of the largest electric rate settlements in Texas history.

Utility landscape

• Oncor Electric Delivery IOU

  North and West Texas, including Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex; largest transmission and distribution utility in ERCOT

  Oncor filed a major rate case in 2024 seeking substantial T&D investment recovery tied to grid hardening and load growth from data centers and electrification. PUCT approved interim rates; final order addressed depreciation schedules and ROE amid significant intervener opposition on capital allocation.

• AEP Texas (AEP Texas Central and AEP Texas North) IOU

  South and West Texas, including Corpus Christi, Laredo, and the Panhandle region

  AEP Texas filed for distribution rate increases in 2025 to recover costs associated with storm hardening following repeated extreme weather events. PUCT scrutiny has focused on vegetation management spending and capital additions qualifying under the Distribution Cost Recovery Factor (DCRF) mechanism.

• CenterPoint Energy Houston Electric IOU

  Greater Houston area and surrounding counties in the Gulf Coast region

  Following catastrophic outage performance during Hurricane Beryl in July 2024, CenterPoint faced PUCT-mandated reliability improvement plans, executive accountability proceedings, and legislative scrutiny in the 2025 session. The utility is under enhanced performance benchmarking and hardening investment obligations with potential penalty exposure.

• Pedernales Electric Cooperative coop

  Texas Hill Country and surrounding Central Texas counties; largest electric distribution cooperative in the U.S. by customer count

  As a cooperative, Pedernales operates under limited PUCT jurisdiction but participates in ERCOT and has been active in distributed energy resource integration and demand response programs. Rate adjustments and member equity allocations are governed by its board rather than PUCT rate cases.

• Austin Energy muni

  City of Austin and portions of Travis County and surrounding areas

  Austin Energy operates under City of Austin oversight with limited PUCT jurisdiction over wholesale market participation. The utility has pursued aggressive renewable procurement targets and is managing cost pressures from the Decker Creek power plant transition and increasing purchased power costs within ERCOT.

• San Antonio Public Service (CPS Energy) muni

  San Antonio and Bexar County; serves both electric and natural gas customers

  CPS Energy is governed by its board and the City of San Antonio, outside routine PUCT rate case jurisdiction. The utility is managing debt obligations incurred following Winter Storm Uri in February 2021 and is executing a generation transition plan that includes significant utility-scale solar and battery storage procurement.

Key issues

• Post-Beryl grid reliability mandates: PUCT continues oversight of CenterPoint's court-ordered reliability improvement plan, including trim cycle compliance, automated switching deployment timelines, and potential financial penalties tied to performance benchmarks established following the July 2024 hurricane outage failures.
• Explosive load growth from data centers and AI infrastructure: ERCOT and PUCT are grappling with an unprecedented wave of large load interconnection requests, primarily from hyperscale data centers in North Texas, raising transmission planning adequacy concerns, cost allocation disputes, and questions about whether large loads should bear direct interconnection upgrade costs.
• ERCOT market design reform and dispatchable capacity incentives: Following SB 6 (2023) and the creation of the Performance Credit Mechanism framework, PUCT is actively refining rules to incentivize investment in firm, weather-hardened dispatchable generation capacity, with ongoing stakeholder proceedings on credit valuation and qualifying facility standards.
• Transmission cost allocation and CREZ successor planning: With West Texas and Panhandle renewable zones nearing saturation on existing Competitive Renewable Energy Zone transmission, PUCT and ERCOT are evaluating new long-range transmission scenarios to accommodate additional wind, solar, and storage while managing rate impact on all customer classes.
• Natural gas supply chain reliability and upstream regulation: In the wake of Winter Storm Uri and subsequent extreme cold events, PUCT is coordinating with the Railroad Commission on weatherization compliance verification for generation fuel supply chains, with ongoing rulemakings addressing financial assurance requirements for gas suppliers serving power plants.

Upcoming

• 2026-09-15

  Estimated deadline for CenterPoint Energy Houston Electric to file its annual reliability performance report under PUCT's post-Beryl oversight framework, triggering commission review of hardening milestone completion and potential penalty or incentive determinations for calendar year 2025 performance metrics.

• 2026-10-01

  Estimated PUCT open meeting at which commissioners are expected to take up proposed amendments to large load interconnection rules, including cost responsibility provisions for transmission upgrades driven by data center and industrial customer requests; stakeholder comment period likely closes in September 2026.

• 2026-11-30

  Estimated target date for PUCT final order in Oncor Electric Delivery's pending base rate case proceeding, including resolution of contested issues on return on equity, accumulated deferred income tax treatment, and eligibility of grid modernization capital expenditures for current rate recovery.

• 2027-01-14

  Texas 90th Legislative Session convenes (estimated January 2027); PUCT and ERCOT are expected to face significant legislative attention on data center load growth cost allocation, utility holding company oversight reform, and potential expansion of PUCT authority over cooperative and municipal utility reliability standards.