daily · energy-economics

Texas adopts $100,000 study fee and $50,000-per-MW security for large grid loads

The Texas utility commission adopted a new ERCOT interconnection rule for qualifying loads of at least 75 MW. It sets a $100,000 study fee and generally requires $50,000 per MW in intermediate financial security while dropping a proposed non-refundable interconnection fee. The rule's effective date is October 8.

By Greener Numbers Editorial Team · Published September 26, 2026 · Updated 9/27/2026

The Public Utility Commission of Texas adopted new large-load interconnection standards on September 18 under Project No. 58481. The docket's Texas Register acknowledgment lists October 8, 2026 as the effective date. The rule governs qualifying large-load requests in ERCOT, including new connections at a single site of at least 75 megawatts, certain expansions and co-locations with generation. The rule is not a blanket approval of any data center's grid connection.

Before an eligible customer can enter the ERCOT interconnection study, it must sign an intermediate agreement and provide disclosures about the site, power supply and other facilities. Under the adopted text, the customer owes a $100,000 study fee to the interconnecting distribution or transmission service provider; any unused study-fee amount is returned after the study. ERCOT protocols may require another flat study fee. The customer must also post intermediate financial security of $50,000 per MW of requested peak demand for a new connection, or of the incremental increase for an expansion. Security is a commitment against certain obligations, not the same thing as a non-refundable charge.

The commission removed the proposed non-refundable interconnection fee from the final rule and revised how financial security can be credited or returned. At the later standard large-load agreement stage, security is generally the greater of $50,000 per MW of contracted peak demand or allocated system-upgrade costs, with eligible earlier cash collateral credited. Conditions, withdrawals and outstanding amounts affect what is returned.

Utility Dive reported that the commission also gave utilities more time to notify ERCOT about a customer's unused capacity when energization milestones slip. Its September 21 report places the rule amid a Texas audit of ERCOT's 474-GW interconnection queue, approximately 90% of it data centers. That queue is requests, not capacity already operating or a forecast that all projects will be built.

Sources: PUCT Project 58481, September 18 adoption order: https://interchange.puc.texas.gov/search/documents/?controlNumber=58481&itemNumber=218 ; adopted rule text, pages 201-271: https://interchange.puc.texas.gov/Documents/58481_218_1684656.PDF ; Utility Dive, September 21: https://www.utilitydive.com/news/texas-puc-adopts-data-center-interconnection-rules/830899/

Official source: Gemini Daily Brief Bridge ↗