Before the Towers Go Up: HB 184 Would Make Texas Study Its 765-kV Lines First, and HB 1005 Would Pay the Neighbors' Transmission Charges
Two bills filed on the Legislature's first filing day take opposite ends of the same fight — one would bar the PUC from approving any 765-kV line until an independent-reviewed study is done, and the other would reimburse the electric-bill transmission charges of homeowners whose land the lines cross.
AUSTIN — The fight over Texas's next generation of power lines arrived at the Capitol on the first day of bill filing. House Bill 184, filed Monday, would bar the Public Utility Commission from approving any 765-kilovolt transmission line until the commission first completes a study, according to The Bluebonnet Express's report on the bills, read in full by this desk. The text names the Permian Basin Reliability Plan, PUC Project 55718, as one of the approvals covered, and the study requirement would expire September 1, 2029.
The study the bill demands is specific: how extra-high-voltage lines perform under different dispatch scenarios, times of day, times of year and weather conditions; what the lines would cost ratepayers, with particular emphasis on residential customers; what could cause cost overruns and how to reduce them; and the supply-chain and workforce limits that could delay construction. The PUC would then have to send its results to an independent third party for review — and the bill rules out any reviewer that conducted a similar study for ERCOT or another market participant after January 1, 2020. House Bill 1005 works the other end of the line: a utility that builds extra-high-voltage lines would have to exempt or reimburse, twice a year, all of the transmission and distribution charges on the electric bill of a residential customer whose property sits next to a line and whose land was acquired for it, "via eminent domain or otherwise" — a benefit that could last until 2076 and could be transferred to a buyer.
The bills land while the PUC is already working through the applications. The Texas Tribune reported in September that the commission approved the Howard-Solstice line, about 370 miles across 14 counties, and Texas Scorecard reported November 5 that the commission extended its time to consider rehearing motions on that line to the maximum allowed by law, the Express reported. Landowner groups oppose the lines, citing property damage and the approval process, while industry and oil and gas groups say the lines are needed for growth and grid reliability, according to the Tribune's reporting carried in the file. Neither bill has become law: both were filed November 9, the Legislature convenes January 12, 2027, and filing alone guarantees neither a hearing nor a vote.
