Texas Data Center Moratorium Pledge: Commercial Electricity Index Eases to 6.91 Cents, Week of Nov 9, 2026

Bottom line: The TxCP Commercial Rate Index (TCRI) from the texascommercialplans.com database eased to 6.91 cents per kWh across 16,700 tracked Texas commercial electricity plans in the ERCOT deregulated market as of November 9, 2026, from 6.98 cents on November 2. All five TDU medians fell for a third straight week. The policy news: the governor-elect has pledged to keep data center approvals paused until the Legislature acts. Updated weekly.

Market Pulse

Across the 16,700 commercial electricity plans we track as of November 9, 2026, the TxCP Commercial Rate Index sits at 6.91 cents per kWh, 0.07 cents below November 2. The TCRI has now eased in six straight reports, a cumulative 0.26 cents from 7.17 cents on September 28.

Medians moved less than the average again. Every TDU median slipped between 0.015 and 0.06 cents while the catalog grew from 15,357 to 16,700 plans, so plan mix explains part of the TCRI move. Repricing tells the cleaner story: of the 6,648 plans we matched to our prior snapshot, 1,389 changed price, 1,077 lower and 312 higher. That is 78 percent of repriced plans moving down, against 62 percent on November 2.

What Moved This Week and Why It Matters

The most consequential development for Texas commercial buyers this week is political. Gina Hinojosa won the November 3 governor's race on pledges to keep data center approvals paused until the Legislature passes new laws and to freeze residential electricity rates. Neither pledge is in force or moves this week's prices, but both put dated checkpoints inside the renewal window of any business whose contract ends before mid-2027.

What Happened

Hinojosa defeated Gov. Greg Abbott on November 3 (EnergyChoiceMatters, November 4). Her campaign site says she will "direct the Public Utility Commission to freeze the rates residential customers pay until we have laws to ensure that data centers and other high-load users pay for themselves." She has also said she would ban all data center approvals until the Legislature passes protections (Texas Tribune). The session opens January 12, 2027.

A pause is already running. On August 3, 2026, Abbott directed the PUCT and ERCOT to verify and audit data center projects before they advance through ERCOT's interconnection process (ERCOT market notice M-A090926-01), and ERCOT aims to finish that audit by December 10 (Utility Dive). In a November 4 filing in PUCT Project 59142, ERCOT reported that 433 of the 465 data center loads sent its state and community impact information request had responded, covering about 177 GW of requested capacity, figures it marked preliminary (ERCOT filing). Oncor alone counted about 293 GW of data center requests in its transmission queue at September 30 (Oncor third-quarter results).

Impact on Texas Commercial Buyers

Contract. The freeze in the written plan names residential customers. A business on a fixed-rate contract is governed by its own terms, and what can change mid-term sits in the pass-through and change-in-law language our 2028 Clause Check covered last week. One campaign statement promised to "freeze electricity rates" with no residential qualifier, so the text of any executive order is what to read.

Budget. Large-load growth is the planning case behind transmission spending that reaches commercial delivery charges through TDU riders, as our November 4 briefing on CenterPoint's capital plan showed. Hinojosa's site says infrastructure costs driven by data centers and industry should fall on the companies that drive them, and it objects to building 765 kV lines "in record time." It does not say how that would map onto TDU rate classes, which the PUCT sets in rate cases.

Timing. Three dates sit inside a typical renewal window: ERCOT's December 10 audit, the January 12 start of the legislative session and its May 31 end. The average term across the plans we track is 24.4 months, so a contract signed this month runs well past all three.

The Policy Calendar Check: Four Questions Before You Renew

Does your contract end before May 31, 2027? Then your renewal falls inside the audit and legislative window, and quote timing matters more than usual.
Does the freeze cover your account? As written, it covers residential customers. Plan on your contract, not a freeze, setting your business price.
Which charges can move mid-term? Find the pass-through and change-in-law clauses in your contract and Electricity Facts Label. They decide whether a new regulatory cost reaches you before renewal.
Is your provider still enrolling? Look it up in the PUCT REP directory and confirm it takes new customers before you sign. This week's REP Spotlight shows why.

What You Should Do This Week

Note your contract end date and whether it falls before May 31, 2027.
If it does, request 12-, 24- and 36-month quotes on the same day and compare them with this week's medians: 5.90 cents for 1 to 12 months, 6.13 cents for 13 to 24 months and 6.51 cents for 25 to 36 months.
Ask each provider, in writing, which charges its fixed price excludes.
Mark December 10. ERCOT's verification report is the first official read on which large data center loads qualify to proceed.

Questions to ask your REP or broker:

If the PUCT reallocates transmission or reliability costs in 2027, can this price change before the term ends?
Are TDU delivery charges fixed in this quote or passed through at cost?
How long is this quote valid, and will you hold it through December 10?

Also moving

PUCT staff asked whether to repeal the fixed-rate ancillary exception. In Project 59997, staff sought comment on repealing the language in 16 TAC 25.475(b)(5) that lets a REP seek authority to change an existing fixed rate for a new ancillary service, and on how to treat DRRS (EnergyChoiceMatters, November 5). Repeal would close that avenue for small commercial fixed-rate customers.
Deposit interest falls in 2027. The PUCT set 3.68 percent for customer deposits held by REPs in 2027, down from 4.12 percent, in Project 45319 (EnergyChoiceMatters, November 6). A business deposit held by its provider will earn less next year.
AEP Texas pauses switches on Veterans Day. AEP Texas will not work move-in, move-out or switch orders on Wednesday, November 11, and resumes them November 12 (EnergyChoiceMatters, November 6). Plan any move-in in AEP Central or AEP North territory around that date.

Pricing Trend Analysis

Texas commercial electricity pricing eased again across our tracked plans as of November 9, 2026: all five TDU medians fell from November 2, and the five medians now span 6.27 to 6.47 cents per kWh, a 0.20-cent band that narrowed from 0.23 cents a week ago.

Oncor keeps the lowest median, 6.27 cents, and the lowest average, 6.79 cents. AEP Central keeps the highest median, 6.47 cents, after the week's largest median drop, 0.06 cents, and CenterPoint keeps the highest average, 6.99 cents.

Date	Segment	Plans	Median	Median on 2026-11-02	Average
2026-11-09	Oncor	3,724	$0.0627	$0.0630	$0.0679
2026-11-09	AEP North	3,068	$0.06377	$0.0641	$0.0691
2026-11-09	AEP Central	3,401	$0.0647	$0.0653	$0.0693
2026-11-09	CenterPoint	3,292	$0.0645	$0.0647	$0.0699
2026-11-09	TNMP	3,215	$0.06375	$0.0639	$0.0694
2026-11-09	Short-term (1 to 12 months)	6,271	$0.0590	$0.0593	$0.0729
2026-11-09	Mid-term (13 to 24 months)	4,258	$0.0613	$0.0616	$0.0634
2026-11-09	Long-term (25 to 36 months)	2,220	$0.0651	$0.0655	$0.0672

The term rows cover the 12,749 plans with a stated contract length of 36 months or less. Short-term plans keep the lowest median, 5.90 cents, and the highest average, 7.29 cents, because a tail of high-priced offers pulls the average up. Mid-term costs 0.23 cents more on medians, and 25 to 36 months another 0.38 cents. Term still moves the median about three times as much as territory (0.61 cents against the 0.20-cent TDU band), as our TDU versus contract term guide explains. See the full pricing breakdown in our data download.

Every tracked plan, REP and TDU territory comes as a $10 CSV. Browse current rates or download today's snapshot.

REP Spotlight: Pulse Power

Pulse Power, a Houston provider under PUCT certificate 10259, is no longer enrolling customers. It applied on April 2, 2026 to relinquish its REP certificate, in a docket the PUCT closed on June 11, according to the PUCT REP directory, and its website says it is no longer accepting new enrollments.

Our weekly rotation picked it because our catalog still carried 24 commercial plan listings under its name, across Oncor, CenterPoint and TNMP territory. A buyer cannot sign those, so we have flagged them for removal. At about 0.1 percent of the catalog, they are too few to move the TCRI meaningfully. The PUCT directory lists four assumed names on the same certificate: Energy to Go, Lone Star Energy, New Power Texas and PowerNext.

The lesson applies to any quote. Look the provider up in the PUCT directory, read its recent dockets, where a relinquishment shows up, and confirm on its own site that it is taking new customers. Every active provider's full plan data is in our data download.

Buyer Intelligence

Texas small business shoppers face policy uncertainty this winter, but prices show none of it yet: 1,077 of the 1,389 plans that repriced this week moved lower, and the TCRI sits 0.26 cents below its September 28 level.

Does the Texas data center moratorium pledge change commercial electricity rates?

Not yet. As of November 9, 2026, the moratorium and rate-freeze pledges are not in force, and the TCRI eased to 6.91 cents per kWh across 16,700 plans, its sixth straight weekly decline. The TCRI is an energy-only average. EIA's all-in Texas commercial figure, which includes delivery, was 8.96 cents per kWh in August 2026 (EIA Table 5.6.A). Any effect on business pricing would come later, through how the PUCT allocates transmission and reliability costs.

Should a Texas business renew its electricity contract before January?

Requesting quotes now costs nothing and sets a baseline, since medians fell in every TDU territory and every term band this week. Prices could keep easing, so a business with more than 90 days left can price renewals now and again after ERCOT's December 10 report, then sign the lower quote. A business inside 90 days should shop now rather than let its contract lapse.

Data Snapshot

Our November 9, 2026 snapshot spans 29 retail electric providers in our registry and 16,700 active commercial plans across all five ERCOT deregulated TDU territories, with every TDU median below its November 2 level for a third straight week.

Tracked REPs: 29 retail electric providers in our registry, including one that has relinquished its certificate (see REP Spotlight).
Active commercial plans: 16,700, up from 15,357 on November 2.
Market average rate (TCRI): 6.91 cents per kWh, versus 6.98 cents on November 2.
Plans repriced this week: 1,389 of the 6,648 plans we matched to our prior snapshot, 312 higher and 1,077 lower.
Average contract term: 24.4 months across tracked plans.
Lowest TDU median: Oncor at 6.27 cents per kWh. Highest: AEP Central at 6.47 cents per kWh.
Term medians: 5.90 cents short-term, 6.13 cents mid-term, 6.51 cents long-term.

This report shows aggregate commercial rate bands. Full provider-level plan data is available to Texas Commercial Plans data download customers.

Full rate data and plan comparisons are in our data download. For last week's baseline, see our November 2 weekly report, and for context, our guide to Texas commercial electricity rates.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are Texas commercial electricity rates as of November 9, 2026?

The TxCP Commercial Rate Index sits at 6.91 cents per kWh across 16,700 tracked commercial plans as of November 9, 2026, down from 6.98 cents on November 2. Medians by TDU territory range from 6.27 cents in Oncor to 6.47 cents in AEP Central.

Is there a data center moratorium in Texas?

Data center grid connections are already on hold under the verification and audit Gov. Greg Abbott ordered on August 3, 2026, and ERCOT aims to finish that audit by December 10. Governor-elect Gina Hinojosa, who takes office in January, has pledged a moratorium on all data center approvals until the Legislature passes new laws. The session opens January 12, 2027.

Would a Texas electricity rate freeze apply to businesses?

As written on her campaign site, Gina Hinojosa's plan would direct the PUCT to freeze the rates residential customers pay, so it does not name business accounts. One campaign statement promised to freeze electricity rates without that qualifier, so the text of any executive order after she takes office in January will settle it.