A number of North Texas cities are scoffing at proposed utility rate hikes, hoping to shield their residents from unreasonable energy costs as the Lone Star State — the biggest energy producer in the country — becomes increasingly associated with high electric bills.
Recently, Texas was ranked 5th in the nation for most unaffordable electric bills in 2025 by the energy cost comparison website Texas Electricity Rates. The state’s average monthly electric bill was pegged at $171 (which honestly seems low, but maybe that’s just me and my home’s poor energy efficiency), some $28.66 higher than the national average.
Credit: Texas Electricity Ratings
Luckily for many North Texans struggling to keep the lights on, local elected officials have been throwing shade at proposed hikes of 12.3% for residential customers and 51% for street lighting. The higher rates were requested over the summer by Oncor Electric, which delivers electricity to homes and businesses through its infrastructure network of transmission lines. In June, Oncor petitioned the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) for the hikes.
Debbie Dennis
“Oncor has been entrusted with the extraordinary responsibility of helping power the unprecedented growth across Texas. We are requesting this rate review as we’re executing on our approximately $36 billion five-year capital plan as we seek to minimize the impacts of increased storms on our customers,” said Oncor senior vice president Debbie Dennis, who argued the company needs the additional revenue to grow its workforce and procure “materials and equipment on a record scale.”
There most certainly is a hell of a lot of growth. The state’s grid operator, ERCOT, estimates that Texas’ total electricity load will increase from 87 gigawatts this year to 145 gigawatts in 2031. Nearly half of that projected growth is being driven by energy-intensive data centers. According to an energy report by the Texas Comptroller’s Office, 141 of the 279 data centers in the state as of September 2024 were in the D-FW.
Now, municipalities have a voice in regulating utility delivery rates. They often do so through the Steering Committee of Cities Served by Oncor, a coalition of roughly 170 cities in Central and North Texas, which negotiates with Oncor and PUCT representatives over rates. Individual jurisdictions, after all, have to enact the rates in an ordinance. While the particulars are being hashed out, though, cities typically issue resolutions to get their point across.
“That the rates proposed by Oncor to be recovered, through its electricity rate charged to customers located within the City limits, are hereby found to be unreasonable and shall be denied,” reads a resolution passed by the Dallas City Council last Wednesday.
Fort Worth, Arlington, Plano, Prosper, Keller, Grapevine, and Colleyville, among other municipalities, joined Dallas this month in signaling dissatisfaction with the proposed rate hikes through resolutions.
“We’ve done these a number of times, and what happens is there’s a negotiated settlement that comes back for approval at a later date for council to consider,” Hurst Assistant City Manager Clayton Fulton told his city council members before they adopted a similar resolution, per Fort Worth Report.
Keep in mind that all we’re talking about here are delivery rates, not the actual price of your electricity. Read more about what all goes into your electric bill and which Texas cities pay the least these days here.