Facing an estimated 474 GW of interconnection requests, Texas hits pause on data centers

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has ordered an audit of every data center waiting to connect to the state's power grid, run by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT). Requests for new power hookups now total about 474 gigawatts — more than five times the state's record peak electricity demand — and Abbott says about 90 percent of that is data centers. In response, ERCOT has delayed the first round of reviews under its new large-load connection process and plans to ask state regulators for more time.

The audit will look at whether data centers plan to generate their own power or lean on the shared grid, how much water they'll use and whether they bring their own supply instead of drawing on water communities need, and whether they're paying their own way or relying on state and local tax breaks and other public money. Abbott says any project that doesn't comply should be denied. The data center industry's trade group says it welcomes the review as a way to separate serious, committed projects from speculative ones.

For homeowners, this doesn't change your rates or service today, but it's part of a broader reckoning over how much new demand from data centers the grid can actually absorb — and who ends up paying for the power plants, transmission lines and water needed to support them. Texas follows New York, which paused new data center approvals in July while it writes new rules.