Texas

ERCOT approval pause pending audit

Statewide permit or approval pause

In effect This instrument is recorded as currently in effect as of the dataset date.

Summary

On 3 August 2026, Governor Greg Abbott directed the Public Utility Commission of Texas and ERCOT to audit data centers advancing through ERCOT interconnection before any additional data centers are approved to move forward, and to deny grid connection to a project that fails that process. The letter also requires information on public financial assistance, grid dependence and on-site generation, water and cooling, community impacts, and ownership. This is a temporary approval pause pending that audit. It is not a permanent ban on existing facilities. The letter does not say that operating data centers must cease operation.

Scope

The letter directs the Public Utility Commission of Texas and ERCOT to conduct a verification and audit of data centers advancing through ERCOT's interconnection process before any additional data centers are approved to move forward. A project that fails that process must be denied connection to the Texas grid as described in the letter. The letter does not order existing operating facilities to shut down, does not state a calendar end date, and is addressed to the ERCOT interconnection process rather than to every electric utility in Texas.

Geographic scope
Texas
Jurisdiction
State
Authority type
Executive
Issuing authority
Governor of Texas

Dates

Adopted
No adoption day is recorded
Effective
3 August 2026
Scheduled expiration
See completion condition
Ended
Not recorded as ended
Completion condition
The audit must be completed before any additional data centers are approved to move forward. The letter states no calendar expiration.
Source document
3 August 2026
Last checked
23 September 2026
About this date

This record was last checked before the tracker date, 11 November 2026. An earlier check date does not by itself mean the record's status has changed.

What this does not establish

  • This is a governor's letter to two agencies, not a statute enacted by the Legislature.
  • The letter does not set a completion day. Later ERCOT materials describe report-filing goals; those goals are recorded on the ERCOT implementation record, not as an expiration of this letter.
  • The operative pause is approval to move forward through ERCOT interconnection and denial of connection for noncompliance. It does not, on its own text, freeze every state environmental permit. That later step is the 21 September 2026 TCEQ letter.
  • The letter uses 'the Texas grid' while writing to ERCOT. This record does not treat that phrase as a finding about utilities outside the ERCOT interconnection process.

Unresolved questions

  • Whether the Public Utility Commission has issued its own order adopting the letter, separate from ERCOT's later notices, was not established from this letter.
  • The letter does not define the megawatt threshold for 'data centers advancing through ERCOT's interconnection process.' ERCOT's later energization description uses 75 MW and also names virtual-currency mining facilities.

Relationships

Supersession means a later instrument replaces the earlier legal effect. Repeal links identify the repeal instrument and the measure it ends. A later implementation or related letter is not treated as a replacement unless the record says so.

Sources

Primary source: Governor of Texas page on interchange.puc.texas.gov

Back to the policy tracker · Texas policy module