Texas Audit Freezes New Data Center Grid Hookups

✓What's documented Cites Gov. Abbott's June 10 and August directives to PUCT/ERCOT, court filings from the Hill County lawsuit, and named local ordinances with dates and sources.

Gov. Greg Abbott directed the Public Utility Commission of Texas and ERCOT to conduct a full audit of every data center connecting to the state grid, effectively freezing new interconnections until the review is done. The move follows Abbott's June directive ordering regulators to protect Texans from data center infrastructure costs, and comes after at least 100 local ordinances and a $100 million lawsuit over a rescinded county moratorium exposed how contested the cost question has become at the local level.

• No data center project can move forward in Texas, and none can connect to the grid, until the PUCT/ERCOT audit Abbott ordered in August is complete.
• Abbott's June 10 directive already ordered PUCT and ERCOT to "shield Texans from data center infrastructure costs."
• A data center developer sued Hill County for over $100 million after the county passed a moratorium; the county rescinded it, and Tom Green County dropped its own moratorium plan as a result.
• Democratic challenger Gina Hinojosa has called on Abbott to impose a full moratorium until the legislature can pass statewide rules.