The Public Utility Commission of Texas voted Friday to adopt new large load interconnection standards, opting to eliminate a proposed rule’s non-refundable interconnection fee and set a flat study fee of $100,000, regardless of load size.

The proposed rule, issued in March, required a non-refundable interconnection fee of $50,000 per MW of contracted peak demand. The PUCT eliminated this from its final rule. 

The proposal also established tiers for study fees based on project size, but the adopted rule settled on a flat $100,000 study fee for all large load customers. “As more data becomes available relating to study costs, the commission may amend the rule to update the study fee amount that is required,” the PUCT wrote.

In a March blog post, law firm DLA Piper said the proposed rules “could result in significant upfront capital commitments” and contained financial thresholds “higher than those imposed by other major US grid operators, where study deposits and interconnection fees for load customers are typically measured in the tens of thousands of dollars rather than millions.”

The less stringent adopted rules are arriving during Texas’ pause on new data center development as the state audits the Electric Reliability Council of Texas’ 474 GW interconnection queue, approximately 90% of which is data centers. 

The final rule also softened the PUCT’s proposed standards for when the interconnecting DSP or TSP “must notify ERCOT of the large load customer's non-utilized capacity” if the customer missed scheduled energization milestones.

The proposed rules said ERCOT must be notified no less than 30 days after a milestone was missed by six months. The final rules allow for 24 months, and the commission also modified “the adopted rule to clarify that the 24-month period applies to the energization schedule as a whole, and not for each energization milestone individually.”

“Within 60 days of providing the notice to ERCOT, the interconnecting DSP or TSP must apply the large load customer's financial security to any outstanding amounts owed, and then return the balance to the large load customer,” the adopted rule said.

The proposed rules had required the DSP or TSP to refund only 20% to the large load customer, then apply the remaining 80% of the financial security to any outstanding amounts owed, and use the rest as an offset to the TSP’s rate base in its next interim rate proceeding or comprehensive rate proceeding.