Texas Scorecard by Paige Feild October 28, 2025
Lawmakers urged the state agency to halt the larger plan for stakeholder and legislative input.As energy prices continue to increase, Texans will shoulder the additional burden of a statewide infrastructure project for many years ahead.
Since its passage in 2023, Texas lawmakers’ solution for the Permian Basin’s energy shortage has morphed—thanks to state agency maneuvering—into a $33 billion statewide transmission plan that shifts long-term costs onto ratepayers.
Lawmakers passed House Bill 5066 in 2023 to bypass renewable energy requirements and extend transmission service in which existing or projected electrical loads will be underserved.
Legislative IntentThe original intent was for the state to build transmission lines to serve growth that has not kept up with demand, specifically in the Permian Basin. The region is an area of the state with heavy oil and gas development, cryptocurrency mining operations, data centers, and hydrogen electrolysis facilities.
Now the plan has expanded into a statewide project.
Brent Bennett from the Texas Public Policy Foundation told Texas Scorecard that the estimated total cost of the project is $80 billion after financing and maintenance, with an annual cost of $3 billion.
The Transmission Line Plan ChangesThe Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) is a nonprofit corporation, governed by a board of directors and subject to oversight by the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) and the Texas Legislature.
In July 2024, ERCOT recommended that the Public Utilities Commission of Texas consider building transmission lines from other regions of the state—called import paths—instead of only the local transmission upgrades outlined in the legislation.
In September 2024, State Rep. Charlie Geren (R–Fort Worth) sent a letter to ERCOT expressing concerns with the plan.
“My legislative intent is that HB 5066 be implemented without delay,” he wrote. “The Permian Basin Reliability Plan should be kept separated from the larger state plan and should not be the trigger for such a state plan without robust stakeholder and legislative input.”
Six days later, ERCOT responded to Geren.
“We thought it was important for all stakeholders to begin contemplating building a more robust system to serve the projected growth we see happening across the State of Texas,” said the council.
In October 2024, the PUCT approved the reliability plan submitted by ERCOT.
More:
https://texasscorecard.com/state/permian-basin-power-fix-becomes-33-billion-statewide-project/
