The Public Utility Commission of Texas decides Oct. 1 whether to start writing a rule that would measure what a data center actually uses inside its own fence line, rather than at the single meter where the utility’s wires end.
The request comes from Green Recursive Utility Service LLC, a Weatherford company that calls itself a data infrastructure utility provider and says it audits what Texas data centers consume. Its petition, filed in August, asks the commission to adopt the company’s own two-layer standard and to meter large computing loads at a point interior to the facility, arguing that a meter at the property line hides too much. Readers should know how thin the outside record is: the Dispatch found no independent account of the company, and nearly everything published about it traces back to its own website and filings.
Oncor, the state’s largest wires company, filed comments taking no position on the merits but opposing the petition to the extent it touches Oncor’s own obligations. Its practical objection was that the proposal is “silent as to who installs and operates its proposed behind-the-meter metering system.” Roughly 80 filings are on the docket, most of them one-line comments from members of the public asking the commission to take the petition up or to hold a hearing. The company itself asked for a public hearing on Sept. 11.
The vote Oct. 1 is a threshold one. A rulemaking petition is either denied in writing or turned into a rulemaking, and the commission is already writing its own large-load rules under a 2025 law that set a 75-megawatt threshold for how the biggest new loads plan for, interconnect to and get curtailed on the grid. That separate project is not on this agenda.
Seventeen contested cases are, and the largest is a final order on Southwestern Public Service’s plan to build eight generation projects in Texas and New Mexico. Administrative law judges recommended approving five and denying one, and faulted the utility’s cost estimates; a revised recommendation filed Sept. 10 is sealed, so whether that advice still stands could not be determined. Also up: adoption orders tightening how retail electricity sellers file their letters of credit, and a rewrite of how the commission handles customer complaints.
Meeting at a glance
- When
- 9:30 a.m. CT Thursday, October 1, 2026. Notice TRD 2026005698 was filed September 23 at 3:18 p.m.
- Where
- Commissioners’ Hearing Room, seventh floor, William B. Travis Building, 1701 N. Congress Ave., Austin.
- Governing body & chair
- Public Utility Commission of Texas — five commissioners the governor appoints to six-year terms, subject to Senate confirmation. Thomas J. Gleeson is chairman. No seat is vacant.
- Format
- Open meeting, 37 items: 17 contested cases, 18 rule and project items, and a closed session on litigation, personnel and security. Public comment is item 1, three minutes a speaker.
- Live video
- The commission streams its open meetings and keeps an archive on its website.
- Full agenda
- Secretary of State Open Meeting Viewer · agency agenda (PDF)
Commissioners
- Thomas J. Gleeson — chairman; Pflugerville; former agency executive director.
- Kathleen Jackson — Beaumont; professional engineer; former Texas Water Development Board member.
- Courtney K. Hjaltman — Austin; lawyer; former public counsel for Texas utility ratepayers.
- Morgan Johnson — Austin; lawyer; former deputy general counsel to the governor.
- Patrick Rhode — Austin; consultant; former White House and Homeland Security official.
Roster from the commission’s commissioners page, checked September 24, 2026, cross-checked against the governor’s appointment releases and against the distribution lists on two internal commission memoranda filed in September. All five seats are filled. Terms: Gleeson to Sept. 1, 2029; Johnson to Sept. 1, 2031; Jackson and Rhode to Sept. 1, 2027. The Dispatch again could not establish a current expiration date for Hjaltman’s term — her 2024 appointment release names a term ending Sept. 1, 2025, the Senate confirmed her in May 2025, and no reappointment release was found on the governor’s site — so none is printed. Connie Corona is executive director. Staff contact: Carol Stewien, (512) 936-7275.