05/02/2025

Houston Metro Could Need 50% More Electricity by 2031 at Peak Times, Says CenterPoint

Houston Chronicle | Claire Hao | April 24, 2025

Houston Metro Could Need 50% More Electricity by 2031 at Peak Times, Says CenterPoint

Greater Houston is growing. So is its voracious appetite for electricity.

In fact, CenterPoint Energy’s Houston-area customers could require 50% more electricity during peak usage times by 2031, company executives told investors Tuesday. That’s like adding two San Antonio metros to the Houston region. 

Even then, the projection is a “conservative forecast,” meaning the region’s actual electricity needs might end up much higher, CenterPoint CEO Jason Wells said during the company’s first-quarter earnings call Tuesday morning.

The local power grid would require billions of dollars of investments to accommodate this growth, if it pans out — a lucrative opportunity for CenterPoint, since the company makes money by spending big on capital projects.

“We're not seeing growth slow down in the Greater Houston region. If anything, it's accelerating. So, I think the electric transmission build-out will only accelerate as we get into the next decade,” Wells said Tuesday.

The cost of those projects, meanwhile, would be paid for via electricity rate increases spread out across CenterPoint’s expanding customer base.

CenterPoint earned $297 million in profits in the first quarter, a 15% decrease from the same period last year. Still, Tuesday’s earnings call was upbeat as executives touted the company’s plan to spend more than $27 billion in capital projects through 2030.  Approximately $20 billion of those investments are planned for CenterPoint’s electric utility businesses in Houston and Indiana. Another $7 billion is planned for the company’s natural gas utilities across Texas, Minnesota, Indiana and Ohio. 

Industrial powerhouse 

CenterPoint’s data is a microcosm of the growth happening across Texas. Earlier this month, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, operator of the state’s main power grid, revealed its own conservative forecast that peak power demand on its system could increase 70% by 2031. 

Electricity demand is set to grow fastest in rural Texas, according to a Tuesday analysis of ERCOT’s forecast by Pexapark, an energy intelligence firm. That’s because many new data centers and cryptocurrency mines are expected to be built in rural areas, where land is cheaper. 

Still, the Houston metro’s peak demand for electricity could increase 10 gigawatts by the end of 2031, according to CenterPoint’s conservative forecast. One gigawatt can power approximately 250,000 Texas homes during peak demand periods.

In other words, the region could ramp up its electricity use over the next seven years more than it did over the last 25 years, Wells previously said in February.  

Most of the additional electricity demand is expected to come from commercial and industrial operations, according to CenterPoint’s presentation to investors. 

Befitting Houston’s title as the energy capital, energy refining and energy exports are expected to be the leading reason the region could require much more electricity in the coming years. These sectors account for 40% to 60% of expected electricity demand growth, according to CenterPoint.

Continued expansion of the Texas Medical Center, plus new data centers, make up another 30% to 35% of expected power demand growth by 2031.

Electrification of the Port of Houston and increasing adoption of electric vehicles could account for another 10% to 20%, according to CenterPoint. 

The electricity needs of households connected to CenterPoint’s power grid, meanwhile, are expected to grow by approximately 2% per year through 2030. 

This lopsided growth has spurred concern that electricity rates could skyrocket for residential customers, even though expensive power grid upgrades are mainly needed to accommodate big businesses. A bill passed by the Texas Senate and pending in the House would direct the state utility regulator to evaluate the issue.