Governor Abbott directs the utility commission and ERCOT to audit every data center in the interconnection queue before any of them advances
Governor Greg Abbott issued a directive on August 3rd, 2026. It tells the Public Utility Commission of Texas and ERCOT to run a verification and audit of every data center moving through the interconnection process. The audit must finish before any data center project moves forward. The directive names five things the agencies must obtain from each project. They are public financial assistance received or expected. They are whether the project brings its own power and whether it brings and reuses its own water. They are what it does to reduce effects on neighbors and who owns and controls it. The letter states the queue at approximately 474 gigawatts and puts the data center share of new power requests at approximately 90 percent. It gives a reason. Some data centers did not answer the commission's own survey of water and power use.
How to take part
The commission carries this out in its own open meetings, which its calendar feed lists as open to the public in Commissioners Hearing Room 7-100 in Austin. The next one after the directive falls on August 20th, 2026. Subscribing to that feed is the way to see an item before it is taken up rather than after.
Where
Statewide. This decision applies across Texas rather than to a named county.
Dates
| Date | What | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 2026-08-03 | ordered | Directive issued |
| 2026-08-20 | hearing | Next utility commission open meeting after the directive |
The evidence
Every fact above rests on one of these. The words are the source's own.
Governor Greg Abbott today directed the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) to conduct a comprehensive verification and audit of all data centers advancing through ERCOT's interconnection process.Office of the Texas Governor, Governor Abbott Directs Comprehensive Data Center Audit Primary source, official
The PUCT and ERCOT must complete this audit before any data center project moves forward. Any project that fails to comply with the requirements set forth by the PUCT and ERCOT will be denied connection to the Texas grid.Office of the Texas Governor, Governor Abbott Directs Comprehensive Data Center Audit Primary source, official
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) is currently considering approximately 474 gigawatts of requests to connect to the Texas grid. That is more than five times Texas' record peak electricity demand for ERCOT.Office of the Texas Governor, directive letter to the utility commission chairman and the ERCOT chief executive, August 3rd, 2026 Primary source, official
Approximately 90 percent of the new power requests are data centers.Office of the Texas Governor, Governor Abbott Directs Comprehensive Data Center Audit Primary source, official
Information detailing the extent to which data centers are paying their own way or depending on the state for financial assistance. That would include all state and local tax incentives, grants, abatements, or other public financial assistance received or expected to be received.Office of the Texas Governor, Governor Abbott Directs Comprehensive Data Center Audit Primary source, official
The extent to which data centers are bringing their own water and reusing their own water as opposed to using water needed by local communities.Office of the Texas Governor, Governor Abbott Directs Comprehensive Data Center Audit Primary source, official
The failure of some data centers to comply with the PUC's survey measuring water and power usage under the General Appropriations Act makes this necessary.Office of the Texas Governor, directive letter to the utility commission chairman and the ERCOT chief executive Primary source, official