Texans are paying more for energy - here’s how we’re organizing to fight back

April 2, 2026

By Shane Johnson

Texans’ energy bills increased by about 30% over the last 5 years and are expected to increase another 30% over the next five. This translates to a $100-$150 bill increase if your current bill is $300-$500 like many Texas families—meaning the millions of Texans who already have to choose between AC, groceries, and medicine will be hurt even worse.

These rising costs, caused largely by the data center boom and heavy industry build out, are yet another example of how giant energy companies are authorized by Gov. Abbott to maximize corporate profit. Some Texas leaders, however, are passing good policy changes to help the people of Texas, resulting in Texas now taking the #1 spot from California for the amount of power generated by utility-scale solar power plants. Unfortunately, the ever-growing thirst for energy and water for industry means that coal power is also increasing for the first time in decades.

Building a statewide campaign of Texans advocating for our energy needs

The Keep The Power On Campaign, started because of the 2021 Winter Storm Uri grid crisis, is our response to yet another year of Texans living under the brutal reality that the Governor and some Texas legislators care more about corporate profit than the needs of people. We are bringing together and training everyday Texans so that we can push back on the influence of giant energy companies, and ensure regular people have a voice in decision making by state leaders. This is how we can win the common sense changes necessary to meet Texans’ energy needs. 

We're demand that giant companies and data centers pay their fair share, families receive assistance if they can’t afford their bill, and that we prioritize the cheapest and fastest solutions to growth that prevent grid issues: reducing wasted electricity and increasing solar, wind, and battery power.

Our campaign is winning changes, despite single-party power in our state

Thanks to the dedicated work of Sierra Club staff and volunteer leaders, partner organizations like Public Citizen, Coalition for Environment, Equity, and Resilience (CEER), Texas Campaign for the Environment, ARISE Adelante, Texas Energy Poverty Research Institute (TEPRI) plus many others, and concerned community members all over the state, we're moving the needle on solutions that put Texans over corporate profits:

  • After 4.5 years of pressure, the Gov. Abbott-appointed Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) put a cap on bonuses that utilities give themselves for doing the bare minimum to reduce wasted electricity.
  • Our advocacy resulted in pivotal changes at the PUCT, like creating an office of public engagement and an online info hub for consumers to make complaints, help people save money, and participate in the process for planning transmission lines.
  • Working with a bipartisan group of legislators, we and other organizations helped pass HB 5323, which created the Texas Energy Waste Advisory Committee, which last week finally held their first meeting. There will be at least three more meetings in 2026 and in December the committee will make recommendations back to the Legislature. 

PUCT Office of Energy Efficiency

Our advocacy also resulted in the PUCT finally created an Office of Energy Efficiency, which is now forcing utilities to actually present their annual energy efficiency plans virtually. First up? On April 22nd, at 12:30 PM, the four non-ERCOT utilities will present their 2027 energy efficiency plans and take questions live. You can join here if you want to watch. 

The ERCOT utilities will present their present PY 2027 plans on Tuesday, May 19, 9:30 am CT - 11:30 am CT. More details to follow. Anyone is welcome to participate in these meetings, and we encourage everyone to be there. This is a huge step forward for transparency and accountability with Texas utilities!

Collaborating with Poder Latinx to support working class, immigrant communities

Winning big changes in Texas with only Sierra Club’s staff and volunteers won’t happen. Supporting working-class and immigrant communities is not only the right thing to do - it’s the only way we can bring enough people together to win the fight for clean, affordable, reliable power.

This is exactly why we welcomed Poder Latinx to be our guest speakers for our March KTPO meeting. Poder Latinx, is an organization dedicated to building political power for Latinx people in Arizona, California, Georgia, Texas, North Carolina, and Washington and recently began taking on more environmental justice issues. On Tuesday they presented their EcoPoder (“eco-power” in Spanish) survey and door knocking program to make sure regular, everyday people in South Texas understand how to read their bill and the energy burden many face. Now that the EcoPoder survey is underway, it serves as a foundation to launch their Qué Calor/One Hot Summer Campaign to extend the conversation into learning why our high bills continue to skyrocket and what actions can each of us take to advocate for more affordable energy. 

Don’t worry if you missed the meeting, here is the recording for the meeting and the slides!

We’re looking forward to partnering with Poder Latinx to expand effective, on-the-ground organizing in South Texas in the future!

What can you do to help Texans and the environment?

The Keep the Power On campaign is only as influential as the network of community members participating in it, so we need your help to continue growing the campaign.

The quickest thing that you can do now is to sign up to attend any of our upcoming events. Take a look at these options and pick 1-2 of so that we can immediately plug you into the movement once you finish reading this blog:

If you’re feeling energized and want to do more than attend an event, send me an email at shane.johnson@sierraclub.org. We're always looking for enthusiastic movement-builders and volunteers. Thank you for your support and all you’re doing to help Texans and the environment!