Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said he was “very disappointed” with the Public Utility Commission of Texas after it approved the first of three proposed 765-kilovolt transmission lines, despite lawmakers telling them to stop.
“I don’t like it when any major agency takes action only four months before session,” he said at the Texas GOP breakfast Wednesday morning in Dallas. This comes less than a week after Patrick made similar remarks at an event in Llano, Texas.
Patrick’s comments center on the 765-kV Strategic Transmission Expansion Plan (STEP) Permian, a key part of the Permian Basin Reliability Plan (PBRP). STEP Permian proposes three transmission lines spanning more than 1,200 miles to move power from East Texas to the natural gas-rich Permian Basin. A pro-landowner group likened this project “to hauling water to the sea.” The Texas Public Policy Foundation estimates the lifetime cost of all STEP projects ERCOT approved through December 2025 at nearly $100 billion.
The three proposed lines are split into five interconnected segments that would cross North, Central, and South Texas. The Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) must approve each segment.
Critics have argued that PUCT, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), and electricity delivery company Oncor transformed a regional reliability directive into a de facto statewide 765‑kV grid plan without an explicit vote by state lawmakers.
Outcries from impacted landowners have stirred up lawmakers. In June, 43 lawmakers asked for PUCT to pause the project. After a July Texas Senate committee hearing, where landowners complained about how a rushed process was impacting their private property rights, Patrick and State Sen. Charles Schwertner (R–Georgetown) urged PUCT to reject applications for all pending 765-kV applications.
It was at that hearing that PUCT Chairman Thomas Gleeson admitted that state lawmakers never mandated a 765-kV buildout.
Despite all of this, on August 29, PUCT commissioners gave final approval to the first of the three proposed lines.
Patrick told Wednesday’s attendees that voters did not elect the commission.
After talking about PUCT, Patrick singled out State Sen. Bob Hall (R–Edgewood), who was in attendance, as responsible for taking down the Texas Lottery Commission.
Amid a sea of scandals and allegations of industry capture, lawmakers closed the Texas Lottery Commission in 2025. They transferred responsibility for lottery operations to the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR).
Patrick characterized the Lottery Commission as corrupt, and said that if TDLR does not run the lottery correctly then lawmakers will get rid of them too.
Hall has also jumped into the 765-kV battle. On August 14, he called for Gov. Greg Abbott to pause all 765-kV projects.
STEP Permian is only phase one. The ERCOT board endorsed STEP’s two other phases in December 2025. These are the STEP Western and STEP Eastern 765-kV lines.
The roughly $742 million STEP Western line, a project of transmission companies Oncor and AEP Texas, would span roughly 100 miles, broken down into two segments. The approximately $9.3 billion STEP Eastern would span about 1,100 miles and is broken down into seven segments. This is a project of transmission companies AEP Texas, CPS Energy, Oncor, and CenterPoint Energy.
As previously reported, there is a potential final buildout that would reach into the Texas panhandle, blanketing Texas in extra-high-voltage transmission lines.
