The Public Utility Commission of Texas meets Friday on five applications to build the first 765-kilovolt power lines in Texas history, and its chairman has already said the commission will decide none of them.
Texas has never built a line that big. The commission chose the 765-kilovolt design in April 2025 for three routes carrying power into the Permian Basin, where oilfield electrification and new industrial customers are outgrowing the wires. Grid operator ERCOT priced the Permian package at about $13.8 billion, roughly a fifth more than the lower-voltage plan the commission passed over, on the reasoning that fewer, bigger lines cross less private land. The five cases Friday decide where the lines actually go. Oncor, AEP Texas, the Lower Colorado River Authority’s transmission arm and San Antonio’s CPS Energy filed them, and the routes touch more than 50 counties, from Reeves in the west to Williamson north of Austin.
Chairman Thomas Gleeson filed a memo in all five cases on August 6 saying that no final decisions will be made regarding any individual transmission line at this open meeting. He asked for the meeting so the commissioners could talk policy through with ERCOT. State administrative law judges have recommended a route in four of the five cases. The fifth has no recommendation yet, and one of the four is formally on hold until a companion case comes back to the commission.
Gleeson also wants ERCOT’s plan for auditing the data centers waiting in its connection queue. Gov. Greg Abbott wrote to the commission and ERCOT on August 3 asking for that verification. The agenda’s only other item is the commission’s work carrying out the 2025 state law on very large electricity users, which lets regulators require those customers to be cut off when the grid is in trouble.
Anyone may speak for three minutes at the start of the meeting, but not about the five line cases. Those are contested cases, and the rule against private contact with decision-makers bars public comment on them. The large-load project is open. What to watch is whether the commissioners set a date to decide any of the routes.
Meeting at a glance
- When
- 9:30 a.m. CT Friday, August 14, 2026. The notice was filed August 6.
- Where
- Commissioners’ Hearing Room, 7th floor, William B. Travis Building, 1701 N. Congress Ave., Austin.
- Governing body & chair
- Public Utility Commission of Texas — five governor-appointed commissioners serving staggered six-year terms. Thomas J. Gleeson chairs. No seats are vacant.
- Format
- In person. Sign up with Office of Public Engagement staff outside the hearing room to speak; three minutes is the limit, and contested cases are off limits.
- Live video
- The commission normally streams through AdminMonitor, but this meeting was not on its broadcast page as of Friday. Check before traveling.
- Full agenda
- Secretary of State Open Meeting Viewer · Commission agenda (PDF)
Commissioners
- Thomas J. Gleeson, Pflugerville — chairman; the commission’s former executive director.
- Kathleen Jackson, P.E. — engineer; former Texas Water Development Board member.
- Courtney K. Hjaltman — former state public utility counsel.
- Morgan Johnson, Austin — former deputy general counsel in the governor’s office.
- Patrick Rhode, Dripping Springs — former special assistant to the U.S. president.
Biographies and appointment dates are on the commission’s own commissioners page. Cities are given only where the agency publishes them; none is listed for Jackson or Hjaltman. The commission grew from three seats to five in 2021. Staff contact for this meeting: Ruby Hicks, (512) 936-7249.