ERCOT Board approves moving ahead to finalize CenterPoint Energy’s emergency generation proposal; Company’s actions will lower bills for Houston-area customers and help avoid regional energy shortfall

Houston – Feb. 25, 2025 – As part of a commitment to help meet the State of Texas’ immediate energy needs, CenterPoint Energy welcomed today’s approval by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) Board to move ahead with finalizing CenterPoint’s proposal to utilize 15 large emergency generation units to help address the state’s generation shortfall concerns. Under its proposal, CenterPoint will make no revenue or profit from these 15 units while helping ERCOT and the State of Texas. CenterPoint’s 2.8 million Greater Houston-area electric customers will also benefit from the arraignment by seeing lower monthly bills related to this transaction by 2027.

As outlined before the ERCOT Board today, and subject to finalization of mutually agreed upon documentation among the relevant parties, including ERCOT and the service provider/operator of the emergency generation units, CenterPoint will send the 15 large emergency generation units to the San Antonio area by summer 2025, for up to two years, which will help the state and ERCOT offset a projected energy shortfall.

As an outcome of this proposal, CenterPoint would make its Houston Electric customers whole for the portion of the units that they have been billed for to date through a combination of rate reductions and foregoing other costs (such as some 2024 storm and vegetation management costs).

The cost of these large temporary generation units will be removed from CenterPoint’s Houston Electric rates once they leave the CenterPoint service area in the coming months. The average Houston Electric customer (who uses 1,000 kWh/month) will see a reduction in bills of an estimated $2/month related to this transaction by 2027.

The 15 units (ranging from 27MW to 32MW) can each power approximately 30,000 homes and were originally acquired to help protect customers against the impacts of extreme weather like Winter Storm Uri.

“All of us at CenterPoint work hard every day to find solutions that benefit our many different stakeholders. This proposal is an unprecedented contribution of value to the state at a key inflection point in the Texas energy market. This unique, commonsense, Texas-driven solution will reduce our customers’ electric bills and address the state’s projected power needs for the next few years. We want to especially thank the ERCOT board, and all our state and local elected leaders for their strong support as we continue to work together to finalize this smart and forward-looking solution that provides bill relief to our customers while helping meet the ever-growing energy needs of our vibrant Texas economy,” said Jason Wells, President and Chief Executive Officer of CenterPoint Energy.

Working Together Toward a Commonsense, Texas-Focused Solution

Over the last six months, CenterPoint engaged in discussions with ERCOT staff, elected leaders and other parties on the role of large temporary generation units, which culminated in this unique proposal.

Important Facts: CenterPoint’s Texas Solution for Emergency Generation Units

CenterPoint’s leased 15 large emergency generation units will help provide up to approximately 450MW of power to be dispatched by ERCOT to serve Texans in the San Antonio region. Important facts related to the proposal include the following:

Lowering Bills for CenterPoint Customers: Costs associated with these units will start to come out of rates for Houston Electric customers in the coming months. Going forward, bills will be reduced by an estimated $2/month by 2027 (for the average customer) related to this transaction. This is based on an average customer who uses approximately 1,000 kWh. Final timing and agreement on the rate reduction must be approved by the Public Utility Commission of Texas in Spring 2025.



Supporting EROCT/Texas Energy Needs: CenterPoint will send the 15 large (27MW -32MW) units to the Greater San Antonio area in the coming months. By Summer 2025, these units will be located at substations around San Antonio. These units will be available to serve ERCOT for up to two years.  This approximately two-year timeframe could be shortened if transmission projects planned in the South Texas area are completed ahead of schedule.



Helping Texas: The Texas-driven solution will provide critical generation capacity for the San Antonio region, avoiding the risk of possible shortfalls.  



Forgoing Revenue and Profit for Units: CenterPoint will receive no revenue or profit from the 15 large units for an up to two-year period based on the proposal with ERCOT.



Seeking Future Market Opportunities: After the up-to-two-year ERCOT service period, CenterPoint will seek future market opportunities, including sub-leasing these units to third parties.  CenterPoint will continue to not charge customers for these units relating to this future period. 

CenterPoint’s role in the Texas electricity market

CenterPoint is an electric transmission and distribution company in the Texas market. The company does not own any power plants in the state; does not generate any electricity in the state; and does not purchase electricity on behalf of customers in Texas. It also does not have any electric customers in Texas outside the 12-county Greater Houston area.