Austin, Texas (February 10, 2025) — A Texas Energy Buyers Alliance (TEBA) report released today shows that if the Texas Legislature passes laws that slow or stop renewable energy and storage development, electricity costs will go up significantly and it would leave the grid less reliable.

The study finds that blocking future renewable energy and storage projects will cost Texans about $115 billion in higher wholesale prices over the next 15 years for both residential and commercial consumers in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) market.

The study, conducted by IdeaSmiths LLC, found that renewable energy resources reduce electricity costs by 12% for the average Texas business. In some regions, especially across West Texas, savings are even higher — up to 18%.

“If you support reliable, affordable electricity in Texas, you have to support Texas renewable energy and storage development,” said Bryn Baker, TEBA’s senior director of policy innovation. “We’ve long known renewable energy resources were making a big difference for Texas consumers. Going forward, the cost benefit of growing renewables and storage resources, especially in a high-load growth environment, is big: more than $7 billion a year on average, over 15 years. It’s vital that Texas legislators enable these massive customer benefits — not undermine the reliable, affordable renewable energy that’s bringing employers and jobs to Texas.”

Dr. Joshua D. Rhodes, a Founding Partner of IdeaSmiths who conducted the study, also noted renewables are among the easiest power plants to build, due to their low-cost and modular construction: “Faster development times mean that renewable energy companies can respond more quickly to ERCOT market needs by building more plants comparatively quickly.”

Texas employers of all sizes benefit from renewable energy and storage resources on the ERCOT grid, the study found. Small businesses (using 5,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity every month) save more than $625 a year thanks to renewable energy resources, and big manufacturers (using 100,000 kilowatt-hours a month) save an average of $12,450 annually.

The study compares electricity costs if renewable energy and storage development continues to increase without severe restrictions, versus expected costs if the state blocks additional renewable and energy storage resources after 2025. The study uses ERCOT’s projection that peak demand could rise as high as 200 gigawatts by 2040. It also follows a similar study showing that, even with fewer resources and lower demand on the grid, renewable energy saved the state about $21.6 billion between 2010 and 2022.

The report notes these key findings and assumptions:

• Savings were greatest in West and Central Texas regions — including the Permian Basin — where load growth (driven by the electrification of oil and gas operations and new manufacturing and data centers) is expected to be high and where the most wind and solar resources are located. In these areas, additional renewable energy resources would reduce electricity costs 15%-18% by 2040.
• In North Texas counties near the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, savings from renewable energy use are expected to be driven by high electricity demand from new data centers, which renewables would help meet more affordably.
• The study assumes that all gas power plants funded through the Texas Energy Fund, as well as transmission lines associated with the Permian Reliability Plan, will be constructed. (The Legislature authorized the fund in 2023, and the Texas Public Utility Commission approved the reliability plan in 2024.)