Small businesses and residents across Webster, Seabrook, Friendswood, Nassau Bay and Clear Lake Shores could see lower electric bills over the next decade under a new CenterPoint Energy plan that shifts infrastructure costs onto large data-center users.
The Houston-based utility announced its "Customer Savings Initiative" on Tuesday, Aug. 11, projecting more than $5 billion in statewide savings for electric customers over 10 years. CenterPoint serves nearly 2.9 million customers in Greater Houston, a territory that includes the Clear Lake area's Bay Area Boulevard and NASA Parkway corridors.
"We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to generate historic levels of customer savings of more than $5 billion statewide by leveraging new investment in large projects to build a more affordable, reliable and resilient electric grid for millions of customers," Chairman and CEO Jason Wells said in the company's announcement.
How it works
The plan hinges on adding up to 14 gigawatts of large-load projects, primarily data centers, to the ERCOT grid. More large users connecting means fixed infrastructure costs get spread across a broader base, according to Click2Houston. That cost-sharing is projected to reduce what residential and small commercial customers pay.
The infrastructure portion of CenterPoint customer bills has risen just over 1% per year between 2014 and 2025, well below national inflation. That rate applies to restaurants along Bay Area Boulevard, retailers near Baybrook Mall and aerospace suppliers on NASA Parkway. The initiative aims to keep that trajectory flat or push it lower.
CenterPoint says its Greater Houston customers already pay the lowest infrastructure charges of any investor-owned electric utility in Texas.
Legislative backdrop
The announcement lands days after Gov. Greg Abbott on Aug. 3 directed the Public Utility Commission of Texas and ERCOT to audit all pending data-center interconnection requests. Texas paused new data-center approvals on Aug. 5 amid more than 474 gigawatts of pending load requests.
CenterPoint said it supports the state's regulatory framework under Senate Bill 6, signed into law in June 2025, which requires large-load customers drawing 75 megawatts or more to pay for their own interconnection studies and infrastructure upgrades. The company said it has already implemented those requirements.
Bucking a national trend
The initiative runs counter to what's happening elsewhere. Utilities across the country proposed more than $18 billion in rate hikes during the first half of 2026, and one in six American households are behind on utility bills, according to consumer advocacy group PowerLines.
Wells said the infrastructure investments could also create jobs and generate millions in local tax revenue for schools and public services in CenterPoint's service area.
What's next
CenterPoint framed the initiative as a long-term commitment, not a one-time rate cut. The company has not announced a specific timeline for when customers will see bill reductions, and the $5 billion figure is a projection based on current assumptions about data-center growth and market conditions. The company said it will continue working with Abbott and state legislators to maintain the regulatory framework ensuring large users pay their full connection costs.
