Texas has long been defined by oil, heat, and huge infrastructure projects. Now, it’s also at the center of a growing environmental debate. Microsoft’s Stargate campus in Abilene is leading a data center boom that is drawing concern over water use, right in the middle of a prolonged drought. According to a July 2025 investigation
AI data centers are also gobbling down massive amounts of electricity, stressing the grid, giving consumers higher bills for worse service. All for something that pretty much everyone hates.
Do you have a source on this? Texas Gas Service is absolutely doing this, but Austin Energy’s residential rates are really good compared to other utilities in the state, and really haven’t ticked up much in recent years outside the $5 base rate increase in '23.
As far as uptime, outside the statewide winter storm outage in '21 and the ice storm in '23 that shredded power lines, I don’t think I’ve experienced an outage in 10 years
Austin Energy’s residential rates are really good compared to other utilities in the state
That’s interesting, given that I had a flat, fee-inclusive $25 bill for 1MWh in Round Rock in 2018. AE charged $46 to just get served. Then the usage came into play.
So, from $25 for 1,000 kWh, I was paying $3/kWh because of all the bullshit. When they cut me off in 2021 (like everyone else not just next to a hospital, fire department, etc.), I elected to get off whatever the fuck this grid claims to be. Sure, I have to balance my batteries a couple of times a year, but I’m otherwise fully off-grid.
TGS was roughly as bad … it was about $40/month to get my first BTU. Ain’t nobody got $90 just to have the joy of utility service.
Once you get out of Austin Energy’s service area, the market is deregulated and competitive … so, yeah, I had a choice of like 30 different providers. AE is a monopoly that the city uses to boost the overall budget instead of providing power to residents at cost (obviously, there’s admin overhead and lineman salaries) the way every other city I’ve lived in with municipal electric service does it.
The city owns and operates AE and has a right to its profits, which go toward funding city services. AE’s rates are in the lower half of rates statewide, and I think you’ll find AE’s general fund transfers pale in comparison to the profits taken by the for-profit electric utilities, which goes to lining the pockets of shareholders and executives. I’m very glad I live in AE’s service area, their service is way better than the for-profit utilities I used around Houston.
AI data centers are also gobbling down massive amounts of electricity, stressing the grid, giving consumers higher bills for worse service. All for something that pretty much everyone hates.
Don’t worry. Texas’ grid is famous for its reliability.
That’s pretty much Austin Energy’s MO. Keep lowering rates for commercial and industrial while raising rates for residential. Texas in a nutshell.
I went off grid nearly two years ago, and AE has raised rates six times now. With pretty shitty uptime.
Do you have a source on this? Texas Gas Service is absolutely doing this, but Austin Energy’s residential rates are really good compared to other utilities in the state, and really haven’t ticked up much in recent years outside the $5 base rate increase in '23.
As far as uptime, outside the statewide winter storm outage in '21 and the ice storm in '23 that shredded power lines, I don’t think I’ve experienced an outage in 10 years
That’s interesting, given that I had a flat, fee-inclusive $25 bill for 1MWh in Round Rock in 2018. AE charged $46 to just get served. Then the usage came into play.
So, from $25 for 1,000 kWh, I was paying $3/kWh because of all the bullshit. When they cut me off in 2021 (like everyone else not just next to a hospital, fire department, etc.), I elected to get off whatever the fuck this grid claims to be. Sure, I have to balance my batteries a couple of times a year, but I’m otherwise fully off-grid.
TGS was roughly as bad … it was about $40/month to get my first BTU. Ain’t nobody got $90 just to have the joy of utility service.
Austin Energy doesn’t serve Round Rock…
You must be thinking of another electric utility, my friend.
Once you get out of Austin Energy’s service area, the market is deregulated and competitive … so, yeah, I had a choice of like 30 different providers. AE is a monopoly that the city uses to boost the overall budget instead of providing power to residents at cost (obviously, there’s admin overhead and lineman salaries) the way every other city I’ve lived in with municipal electric service does it.
The city owns and operates AE and has a right to its profits, which go toward funding city services. AE’s rates are in the lower half of rates statewide, and I think you’ll find AE’s general fund transfers pale in comparison to the profits taken by the for-profit electric utilities, which goes to lining the pockets of shareholders and executives. I’m very glad I live in AE’s service area, their service is way better than the for-profit utilities I used around Houston.
where texas electricity bills can wildly fluctuate depending on where your getting it too.