Oncor Electric Delivery, Texas’s largest transmission and distribution electric utility, has reported more than 200GW of interconnection requests, with 186GW from the data center sector and 5GW from cryptocurrency facilities.

According to Oncor CEO Allen Nye, speaking during the company's earnings call, about 20 percent of the requests have signed contracts or are considered “high-confidence load,” he said.

For Nye, the growth in data centers seeking a connection is only likely to increase. “I would anticipate those numbers will continue to increase,” he said.

Due to the volume of requests, Oncor said that it could potentially add more than $12 billion to its existing $36bn capital plan when it revises that plan sometime next year.

The significant growth across the Texan market represents a prevailing trend, with more and more data centers looking to the Lone Star state as an emerging data center hub. According to the US Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) latest Short-Term Energy Outlook, demand in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas region is forecast to grow at an average rate of 11 percent in 2025 and 2026, far outpacing other markets.

Notable developments in the state include Crusoe’s 200MW+ Abilene data center campus, which is currently under construction, QTS’s planned data center campus in Dallas, and Microsoft's latest data center development in San Antonio.

Southern Co sees growing data center demand

Elsewhere, major US utility company Southern Co. has reported that data center usage across its footprint has surged by 13 percent year-over-year.

In its Q2 earnings call, the company announced higher-than-expected Q2 2025 revenue, with 9.58 percent revenue growth over the last twelve months, with data centers playing a crucial role.

The utility holding company serves six states - Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Virginia - through 19 separate subsidiaries.

According to Southern Co., CEO and president, Chris Womack, its data center pipeline is centered predominantly in Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi. “The large load pipeline across Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi, which includes data centers and large manufacturers, remains well above 50GW of potential incremental load by the mid-2030s,” he said during the call.

In order to meet the growing demand, Southern Co has looked to coal and other fossil fuels to bridge the power gap. In February, it was reported that the utility was seeking to extend the life of three coal-fired power plants in Mississippi and Georgia.