The Texas Power Grid

The basics

ERCOT manages power for about 27 million Texas customers, about 90% of the state's electric load. It is a nonprofit overseen by the Public Utility Commission and the Legislature¹. The rest of the state is served by other grids.

In February 2021, Winter Storm Uri caused days of outages. The state health department confirmed 246 storm-related deaths across 77 Texas counties². Wholesale power prices hit the market cap of $9,000 per megawatt-hour, and some customers on plans tied to wholesale prices got huge bills³.

Lawmakers responded in 2021. They shrank the ERCOT board and required members to live in Texas, required power plants, transmission lines and key gas facilities to weatherize, and allowed fines of up to $1 million per violation per day. They also banned residential electricity plans tied directly to wholesale prices³.

In 2023, Texas voters approved Proposition 7, creating the Texas Energy Fund. Its main program makes low-interest loans to build dispatchable power plants, meaning plants that can run on demand, such as natural gas plants; battery storage is not eligible⁸. By June 2026, the state had finalized eight loans under that program. The eighth, announced in June 2026, is an 860-megawatt natural gas expansion in West Texas⁴.

Demand is rising fast. ERCOT's all-time peak was 85,508 megawatts on August 10, 2023. A preliminary April 2026 forecast projected about 367,790 megawatts of demand by 2032, though ERCOT's CEO said he expects actual load growth to come in lower than this forecast, and ERCOT says it is not a prediction of what will be built⁵.

Key terms

ERCOT

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, the nonprofit that runs the grid for about 90% of the state's electric load¹.

Weatherization

Preparing plants and equipment to keep running in extreme cold or heat. State law has required it since 2021, with ERCOT inspections³.

Energy-only market

ERCOT's design, where power plants earn money mainly by selling electricity, including at very high prices during shortages, rather than being paid to stand by.

Texas Energy Fund

A voter-approved state fund, created in 2023, whose main program makes low-interest loans to build dispatchable power plants such as natural gas plants⁸.

Large load

A single customer that uses a huge amount of power, such as a data center. A 2025 state law set new rules for loads of 75 megawatts or more⁶.

In Texas

Texas keeps its main grid largely separate from the rest of the country. Supporters say this lets Texas set its own rules and move fast. Critics say it limits how much power Texas can import in an emergency.

Wind, solar and batteries now carry more of the load. In the first nine months of 2025, wind and solar met 36% of ERCOT demand, and in summer 2025 batteries supplied an average of about 4 gigawatts in the 8 p.m. hour, as solar output faded⁷. In 2025, lawmakers passed Senate Bill 6. For very large customers of 75 megawatts or more, like data centers, it lets ERCOT order them to cut power use or switch to on-site backup generators during grid emergencies; the curtailment rules apply to loads connected after December 31, 2025⁶.

How people see it

The strongest case for each view, in terms its supporters would recognize. We don't pick a side.

Questions to ask a candidate

• What specifically would you change about how Texas prepares the grid for extreme weather?
• Who should pay to connect big new users like data centers: those users, or all customers?
• Should Texas build more connections to other states' grids?
• Do you support using public money to build or finance power plants?