SAN ANTONIO – As temperatures soar across Texas this week and the state’s power grid faced back-to-back peak demand days, the leaders of CPS Energy and ERCOT sat down with KSAT to address two questions on the minds of San Antonians.
Is the grid keeping up? And: Are electric bills about to go up?
The short answers, according to both executives: Yes, and, not right now.
ERCOT, the agency that manages the Texas power grid, said the system performed well despite the intense demand this week — the highest the state has seen since a record last set in August 2023.
“We had a peak on Tuesday, we had another peak on Wednesday, and during all of that, the grid was reliable,” ERCOT president and CEO Pablo Vegas said. ”And prices were relatively moderate during all that time, as well."
Vegas credited years of infrastructure investment — including growth in solar, wind, battery storage and natural gas supply — along with expanded transmission lines for helping the grid manage the load.
A major driver of future demand is the rapid expansion of data centers across Texas.
CPS Energy said it has up to 17 gigawatts — or 17,000 megawatts — of new large load in its pipeline. By 2040, the utility projects the commercial sector will grow by more than 104%, compared to approximately 34% for residential customers.
That kind of growth requires billions of dollars in new infrastructure. The question of who pays for it is now before the Public Utility Commission of Texas.
“The Public Utility Commission is taking the opportunity to look at how the cost of infrastructure gets allocated across all the customers in Texas,” Vegas said. “They are putting together plans to be able to ensure that the new investment that is being made in infrastructure, in order to support the growing demand of data centers, is going to be paid for directly by that customer group so that it doesn’t burden traditional residential customers or small businesses.”
A final decision is expected before the end of this year.
For CPS Energy customers wondering whether all of this growth will show up on their bills, interim president and CEO Frank Almaraz was direct.
“We have not proposed a rate increase and to the extent that when we get to the point where we’re ready to talk to the community about such a thing, we’re going to do it in a really inclusive, transparent way,” Almaraz said. “So, we have not announced any rate increase at this time.”
The local utility’s most recent rate increase was 4.25%, which took effect in February 2024.
CPS Energy’s current projected average residential cost is 13.4 cents per kilowatt hour for July 2026. The 12-month average from August 2025 through July 2026 sits at 12.8 cents per kilowatt hour.
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