Texas Governor Greg Abbott has ordered state regulators to audit and verify new data centre proposals before they can connect to the power grid, in a move that could slow approvals for AI-driven facilities in the country's second-largest data centre market. The directive, issued to the Public Utility Commission of Texas and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), is intended to keep the grid "stable and reliable" as demand from energy-intensive data centres surges, and follows New York's own data centre moratorium in signalling growing bipartisan concern over these projects nationwide.

Under the new rules, data centres must disclose state and local incentives received, expected reliance on the grid, projected water use and sources, and plans for monitoring community impacts such as noise. ERCOT is currently weighing connection requests totalling more than 474 gigawatts, over five times Texas's record peak demand, with data centres accounting for roughly 90% of new requests. Texas already hosts at least 335 operating data centres and 248 more planned, though some facilities, including those outside ERCOT's jurisdiction or generating power on-site, may avoid the audit altogether; it remains unclear how long the process will take.