Texas

Large-load interconnection standards

Enacted legislation or regulation

In effect

Scope

Senate Bill 6 of the 89th Regular Session, as enrolled, amends the Utilities Code concerning planning, interconnection, operation, and costs of service for certain electrical loads. The standards it adds apply to a new or expanded interconnection where the total load at a single site would exceed a demand threshold set by the Public Utility Commission. The enrolled text says the commission shall establish a demand threshold of 75 megawatts unless the commission determines that a lower threshold is necessary. A large-load customer subject to those standards must disclose whether it is pursuing a substantially similar electric-service request in Texas that would materially change, delay, or withdraw the interconnection request, and must contribute to the interconnecting utility's interconnection costs as the added Utilities Code text states. The enrolled text does not use the words data center. It does not pause energization, and it does not order an operating facility to shut down.

Dates

Effective
20 June 2025
Scheduled expiration
None scheduled
Completion condition
The Legislature Online history records the last actions as signed by the governor and effective immediately on 20 June 2025. The enrolled text says the act takes effect immediately if it receives a two-thirds vote of all members elected to each house; otherwise it would take effect 1 September 2025. The history page records immediate effect.
Source document
20 June 2025
Last checked
22 September 2026
Issuing authority
Texas Legislature

Summary

Texas Senate Bill 6, enrolled in the 89th Regular Session, sets planning and interconnection standards for large electrical loads. The opened text tells the Public Utility Commission to use a 75-megawatt demand threshold unless the commission finds a lower threshold necessary, requires disclosure of substantially similar service requests, and requires a subject customer to contribute to interconnection costs. The Legislature Online history records that the governor signed the bill on 20 June 2025 and that it was effective immediately that day. The House vote recorded on the enrolled text was 103 yeas and 25 nays, and the Senate concurrence was 31 yeas and 0 nays. The bill text that was opened does not say data center. It is not the 2026 ERCOT energization pause, and it does not replace that pause. It also does not order an existing facility to stop operating.

What this does not establish

  • The enrolled bill's printed signature lines are blank. The 20 June 2025 signature and immediate-effect actions are taken from the Legislature Online history page, which was opened separately.
  • The opened enrolled text does not use the words data center. This record does not treat the statute as applying only to data centers or as exempting them.
  • This statute does not supersede the 3 August 2026 governor letter, the ERCOT notices, or the 21 September 2026 TCEQ letter. Those remain separate records.
  • The commission rules implementing the 75-megawatt threshold were not opened. The statute states the threshold the commission shall establish unless it finds a lower one necessary.

Unresolved questions

  • Whether the commission has adopted a threshold below 75 megawatts was not determined from the enrolled bill.
  • How the 2026 ERCOT energization pause interacts with an interconnection agreement entered under Senate Bill 6 was not decided by the bill text.

Relationships

Supersession means a later instrument replaces the earlier legal effect. A later implementation or a related letter is not treated as a replacement unless the record says so.

Sources

Primary source

https://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/89R/billtext/html/SB00006F.htm

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