Taxpayer-Backed NRG Power Plant Awarded Additional Tax Break

Gov. Greg Abbott has announced that a 456 megawatt natural gas power plant being built in Harris County by NRG Energy will be given a school property tax break from Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District.

The Texas Energy Fund has already given NRG Energy Inc. more than $215 million in low-interest loans for this project, as Abbott announced in August. In September, the Texas Energy Fund approved an almost $562 million low-interest loan for another NRG project—a 721 MW natural gas power plant.

The Texas Energy Fund operates under the Public Utility Commission of Texas to provide grants and loans to finance the construction, maintenance, modernization, and operation of electric facilities in Texas.

Once completed, the 456 MW facility will “provide additional permanent jobs, enhanced grid stability and regional economic growth,” explained Executive Vice President and President of NRG Business and Wholesale Operations Robert Gaudette.

When NRG submitted an​​ application for the 456 MW plant in January, the company estimated the facility would add roughly five permanent full-time jobs upon completion.

Texas’ Jobs, Energy, Technology, and Innovation (JETI) corporate handout program provides a school district property tax break for companies that provide a qualifying number of required jobs.

However, this requirement is waived for electric-generation facility projects due to a statutory exemption.

The JETI program provides an additional property tax break to projects located within federally designated Qualified Opportunity Zones.

The 426 MW project’s location does not qualify—however, the NRG 721 MW natural gas plant in Houston does, and it is currently enrolled in the JETI program. That facility is receiving a tax break from Goose Creek CISD.

These power plants, along with similar projects, are springing up around the state to accommodate overwhelming demand, while energy prices continue to climb.

Paige Feild

Paige is a journalist at Texas Scorecard. She graduated from Baylor University with a B.A. in political science and is using her research skills to serve the Lord and her fellow Texans.