Lantern Power | Elisa Kaplan

The main influence on the price of electricity in Texas is the imbalance between the amount of electricity that can be produced currently and the massive growth in demand for it. Electricity rates will continue to increase until more power plants are commissioned, new high efficiency batteries are implemented for storage, and/or more people and businesses move out of Texas than move in. Note that new data/AI centers and electrification are aggravating the problem. Projections indicate peak demand could potentially rise by 70% or more by 2030.

Texas power plants currently have a maximum capacity to produce about 145,000 MWs of electricity, attainable only if all resources are simultaneously running at maximum. The following chart comes from ERCOT’s website. Each pair of bars shows the forecasted peak demand for each of the next 6 years. The bar on the left of each pair shows the projected peak demand, including growth due to population, electric vehicles, photovoltaic installations, crypto mining in existing facilities, and known business, manufacturing and industrial facilities. The bar on the right adds new commercial locations and AI data centers for which information requests have been submitted to ERCOT.

PSA. If you enrolled with Budget Power prior to Feb 1, they just sold your account to Direct Energy, a division of NRG. (FYI, Reliant , Green Mountain, Discount Power, Cirro Energy, and others are also owned by NRG.) Direct Energy will be honoring the contract you enrolled in, so nothing about that will change: most importantly, your rate and contract term remain unchanged.

HOWEVER, IF you chose to enroll in autopay, you will need to re-enroll once you receive your first bill from Direct Energy. You will receive your first bill in April.

When you receive communications from Direct Energy it is not spam! Please be mindful of this so they don't disconnect you!

For those of you that enrolled with Budget Power post Feb 1, your service provider will remain unchanged.

Please don't assume your current electricity provider's renewal rates are better than other companies' offers! Please check with me before renewing!

Also, if your current contract is expiring in October and you are receiving renewal offers now, DON"T DO IT! Electricity rates will drop after summer heat fades, so hang tight.