North Texas power customers are staring down likely higher delivery charges after Oncor and more than a dozen intervenors filed a settlement with the Public Utility Commission of Texas yesterday. The agreement cuts back the utility's original ask but still raises delivery revenues enough that many households would see their monthly bills tick up. Regulators at the PUCT now get the final say and can approve the deal as is, tweak it, or toss it.
According to The Dallas Morning News, Oncor says the settlement would mean about a 3% increase for a typical residential customer who uses 1,000 kilowatt-hours a month on a 15¢ per kilowatt-hour plan, which works out to roughly $4.64 extra each month. That is well below the company’s original June request, which sought about a 12.3% hike for residential customers along with much steeper increases for street lighting.
In a filing with the SEC, Sempra reported that the signed stipulation would raise Oncor’s total electric delivery revenues by about 8.8%. The company’s annual revenue requirement would climb to nearly $6.975 billion, with an estimated $560 million in additional annualized revenue if regulators sign off. The filing also describes adjustments to Oncor’s regulatory capital structure, a slightly higher authorized return on equity, and an increased storm self-insurance accrual that would be recovered through rates.
How the change would hit your bill
According to Oncor, the updated delivery rates are meant to bolster safety, reliability and system resiliency while funding ongoing investment in transmission and distribution. If the PUCT approves the settlement as filed, the company plans to tack on a temporary surcharge that reaches back to Jan. 1 and then spread that adjustment over the rest of the year to soften the month-to-month sting. Oncor says the move is critical to keep building out the grid to serve rapid growth across Texas.
Why cities pushed back
Municipal governments and the Oncor Cities Steering Committee fought hard against the company’s initial proposal, and several North Texas city councils formally rejected the larger rate request during negotiations. Hoodline coverage from Council blocks rate hike underscores how political pressure helped trim back Oncor’s original plan.
Bigger picture: why rates keep rising
Analysts point to a familiar list of culprits behind rising electric costs in Texas: more expensive construction, higher storm restoration costs, climbing insurance premiums and the need to build transmission lines for energy-hungry data centers and industry. A recent analysis summarized by the Houston Chronicle finds that residential electricity prices have jumped sharply since 2021 and warns that continued grid hardening could keep nudging prices higher through 2030.
The PUCT is expected to issue a final order in the first half of 2026. If regulators approve the stipulation as written, the new billing rates would take effect after that order, and Oncor would collect the retroactive difference through a temporary surcharge. Sempra also notes that the settlement would quietly tweak Oncor’s authorized returns and other financial levers, a detail investors are watching closely as the utility finances large, long-term grid projects.
