Governor Abbott directs the utility commission and ERCOT to audit every data center in the interconnection queue before any 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. Its calendar feed lists them as open to the public in Commissioners Hearing Room 7-100 in Austin. The August 20th, 2026 meeting took up ERCOT's request for a good cause exception as item 22 and granted it. The next meeting the calendar feed lists for this work is December 17th, 2026, the one the audit's own schedule points at. A commission agenda opens with a public comment period on any matter within the commission's jurisdiction, with speakers limited to three minutes each. Subscribing to the calendar 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.
Timeline
- ordered
Directive issued
- statutory deadline
Batch Zero classification deadline set in the ERCOT Planning Guide passed with no classification notified
- hearing
Utility commission open meeting carrying ERCOT's request for a good cause exception, agenda item 22
- ordered
Commission order granting the good cause exceptions, filed in Project No. 59142
- statutory deadline
Date the grid operator asked to conditionally classify large loads by, in place of the August 7th deadline
- Today
- statutory deadline
Both the eligibility verification report and the community impact review report are to be filed
70 days out - hearing
Commission open meeting that takes up the two reports
How this decision moved
One dated line per check, oldest first. A line that says nothing changed means somebody looked and it had not.
- 2026-08-16
The directive letter itself is now the cited source rather than the press release about it. The release reads 'approximately over 474 gigawatts' where the letter reads 'approximately 474 gigawatts'.
- 2026-08-19
The directive has already moved a deadline. ERCOT stated on August 3rd that it would not tell service providers how any large load is classified in the Batch Zero study by the August 7th deadline. It said it would ask the utility commission for a good cause exception ahead of the August 20th open meeting. The Governor's office said on August 18th that the Data Center Coalition will comply. That release also says one data center that could not comply ended operations before construction began.
- 2026-08-20
The exception ERCOT said it would seek is on the commission's agenda today. The published agenda for the August 20th open meeting lists Project 59142, the review of ERCOT's interconnection processes for large loads. The item includes discussion and possible action on an ERCOT request for a good cause exception. The same agenda lists Project 58481, the rulemaking to implement large load interconnection standards. Neither item is on the agenda's list of matters to be taken up without discussion.
- 2026-08-23
The exception was granted. The commission signed an order in Project No. 59142 on August 20th. It lets the grid operator miss the August 7th classification deadline and pause the Batch Zero study of loads at 75 megawatts or more until the audit is done. The grid operator filed the audit's design the same day. It asks community impact information from data centers and crypto facilities of 25 megawatts or more that have not yet energized. That is a lower floor than the pause uses. It reports that 290 dynamic models have been reviewed, with approximately 18 percent acceptable on first review.
- 2026-08-25
Checked and unchanged. Still pending, with no dated movement.
- 2026-08-26
Checked and unchanged. The directive letter, the market notice and the commission's own filings still say what they said. The August 20th open meeting has come off the calendar feed now that it has been held, which is normal for that feed and not a change to the directive.
- 2026-08-27
Checked and unchanged. The audit is still running and no data center has been cleared to advance. The August 20th open meeting that granted the exception has been held. The next public step on the calendar is the December 17th open meeting, the one the audit's own filed schedule ends on.
- 2026-08-28
Checked and unchanged. The directive still requires the audit to finish before any data center project moves forward, and neither the commission nor ERCOT has published a result. Every project in the queue is still waiting on it.
- 2026-08-29
Checked and unchanged. The directive still tells the utility commission and the grid operator to audit every data center in the interconnection process before any of them advances. No completed audit has been published, so what the audit found is still unknown.
- 2026-08-30
The directive still has no published result. The instruction to audit the interconnection queue stands, and neither the commission nor the grid operator has posted a finding against it.
- 2026-09-01
The governor's direction to audit queued data centers remains pending before the utility commission and ERCOT.
- 2026-09-02
Checked and unchanged. Still pending, with no dated movement.
- 2026-09-05
The audit directive still stands over every data center in the interconnection queue and no audit result has been published. What the queue looks like after it is still unknown.
- 2026-09-08
The Governor's instruction to audit every data center in the interconnection queue is still an instruction without a published audit behind it.
- 2026-09-09
The Governor's order to audit every data center in the interconnection queue is still outstanding, with no audit published by either body it was addressed to.
- 2026-09-12
Checked and unchanged. Still pending, with no dated movement.
- 2026-09-13
Checked and unchanged. Still pending, with no dated movement.
- 2026-09-16
The Governor's direction to audit the interconnection queue is still the standing instruction, and the audit is still the thing every queued project waits behind. No completion has been announced.
- 2026-09-19
The audit the Governor ordered is still the gate every queued data center has to pass, and no project has been reported through it.
- 2026-09-23
The audit the Governor ordered is still the thing standing between a queued data center and its place in line.
- 2026-09-26
The Governor's audit of every data center in the queue is still the step each one must clear before it advances.
- 2026-09-29
Each data center in the interconnection queue still has to clear the Governor's audit before it advances.
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 · gov.texas.gov
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 · gov.texas.gov
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 · gov.texas.gov
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 · gov.texas.gov
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 · gov.texas.gov
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 · gov.texas.gov
Open Meeting - Thursday, December 17, 2026Public Utility Commission of Texas, agency calendar feed, open meeting entry Primary source, official · puc.texas.gov
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 · gov.texas.gov
(Discussion and possible action, including discussion and possible action on ERCOT request for a good cause exception)PUCT open meeting agenda, August 20th, 2026, item 22, Project No. 59142 Primary source, official · ftp.puc.texas.gov
Rulemaking to Implement Large Load Interconnection Standards Under PURA 37.0561PUCT open meeting agenda, August 20th, 2026, item 21, Project No. 58481 Primary source, official · ftp.puc.texas.gov
In the interest of time, speakers will be limited to three minutes each.PUCT open meeting agenda, August 20th, 2026, item 1, Public Comment Primary source, official · ftp.puc.texas.gov
Good cause exists to allow ERCOT to complete the verification and audit and report the results to the Commission before continuing the Batch Zero interconnection process.Public Utility Commission of Texas, Project No. 59142, Order Granting Good Cause Exceptions Primary source, official · interchange.puc.texas.gov
In response, ERCOT intends to temporarily pause its transitional Batch Zero interconnection study of loads that are 75 MW or more (Large Loads), including data centers and virtual currency mining facilities, until the verification and audit are complete.Public Utility Commission of Texas, Project No. 59142, Order Granting Good Cause Exceptions Primary source, official · interchange.puc.texas.gov
As part of the same effort, ERCOT will request the community impact information identified in the Governor's letter from all data centers and virtual currency mining facilities of 25 MW or more that have not yet energized.Public Utility Commission of Texas, Project No. 59142, Order Granting Good Cause Exceptions Primary source, official · interchange.puc.texas.gov
The verification and audit will take several months, so ERCOT was unable to meet an initial classification deadline in its rules for the Batch Zero study process.Public Utility Commission of Texas, Project No. 59142, Order Granting Good Cause Exceptions Primary source, official · interchange.puc.texas.gov
ERCOT has reviewed 290 dynamic models and approximately 18% were acceptable on first reviewElectric Reliability Council of Texas, Batch Zero Verification and Audit, presentation filed in Project No. 59142 Primary source, official · interchange.puc.texas.gov
Large loads: 75 MW or greater | Medium loads: At least 25 MW and less than 75 MWElectric Reliability Council of Texas, Batch Zero Verification and Audit, presentation filed in Project No. 59142 Primary source, official · interchange.puc.texas.gov
ERCOT will request information from data center and crypto facilities that have requested 25 MW or more and have yet to energizeElectric Reliability Council of Texas, Batch Zero Verification and Audit, presentation filed in Project No. 59142 Primary source, official · interchange.puc.texas.gov
April snapshot had 157 medium data center and crypto loads totaling approximately 8,766 MWElectric Reliability Council of Texas, Batch Zero Verification and Audit, presentation filed in Project No. 59142 Primary source, official · interchange.puc.texas.gov
17 large loads (6,608 MW total peak demand over 5 years) | These large loads have finished all ERCOT processes except have not received ERCOT's approval to energize.Electric Reliability Council of Texas, Batch Zero Verification and Audit, presentation filed in Project No. 59142 Primary source, official · interchange.puc.texas.gov
December 10 | File Batch Zero Eligibility Verification Report | December 17 | Commission Open MeetingElectric Reliability Council of Texas, Batch Zero Verification and Audit, presentation filed in Project No. 59142 Primary source, official · interchange.puc.texas.gov
Large loads that do not pass verification, or do not respond, will be disqualified from Batch ZeroElectric Reliability Council of Texas, Batch Zero Verification and Audit, presentation filed in Project No. 59142 Primary source, official · interchange.puc.texas.gov
To excuse ERCOT from the August 7, 2026 classification deadline in Planning Guide § 9.3.1(2)(a) and instead allow ERCOT to conditionally classify large loads by August 31, 2026.Electric Reliability Council of Texas, Batch Zero Verification and Audit, presentation filed in Project No. 59142 Primary source, official · interchange.puc.texas.gov
Questions about this decision
Answered from the record itself. Every answer is assembled from stored fields, so an answer the record has no basis for is left out rather than guessed.
What is this decision?
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.
Who decides it?
Office of the Texas Governor decides. The record names the deciding body for every entry it carries.
Can the public take part?
The commission carries this out in its own open meetings. Its calendar feed lists them as open to the public in Commissioners Hearing Room 7-100 in Austin. The August 20th, 2026 meeting took up ERCOT's request for a good cause exception as item 22 and granted it. The next meeting the calendar feed lists for this work is December 17th, 2026, the one the audit's own schedule points at. A commission agenda opens with a public comment period on any matter within the commission's jurisdiction, with speakers limited to three minutes each. Subscribing to the calendar feed is the way to see an item before it is taken up rather than after.
Where in Texas does it apply?
It is a statewide body's action and it governs the ERCOT region rather than every county.
Has it been decided?
It is pending. No final decision is on the record.
What happens next?
The next dated step is statutory deadline, on December 10th, in 70 days.
When did it start?
The earliest date on its record is August 3rd, 2026.
What kind of decision is it?
It is filed under data centers.
What sources back it?
Six sources back it. Six of them are primary.
Is it on the ERCOT grid?
Yes. It sits inside the ERCOT interconnection.
When was it last checked?
Every fact on it was last verified against its source on September 29th, 2026.
Cite this
Texas AI Docket, Governor Abbott directs the utility commission and ERCOT to audit every data center in the interconnection queue before any advances. Tracked since August 3rd, 2026. Last verified September 29th, 2026. https://texasaidocket.com/item/tx-2026-0072/. Reuse permitted under CC BY 4.0 with attribution. The same entry is in the docket JSON as item tx-2026-0072.
Beat
Filed under Data centers, with every other decision on that beat.