Texas just ended cheap power for Bitcoin miners. AI made the subsidy politically toxic.
Abbott's order turns grid costs into the new mining fight, and Texas just gave other states the template.
CryptoVibe Desk · bitcoin-mining · texas · energy
- →Greg Abbott told Texas regulators to make data centers, including Bitcoin miners, pay for grid upgrades tied to their growth.
- →The old Texas deal worked while cheap power looked like economic development. AI demand made that math harder to defend.
- →Watch the July 17 PUC and ERCOT memo for whether new large loads must fund lines before they connect.
- ERCOT → ERCOT runs most of the Texas power grid and balances electricity supply with demand.
- PUC → The Public Utility Commission of Texas regulates electric utilities and grid rules in the state.
- interconnection queue → An interconnection queue is the waiting list for big power users or generators that want to connect to the grid.
Texas has 6.5 GW of data centers under construction. That is the load Texas now wants someone else to pay for. On June 10, Governor Greg Abbott directed the PUC and ERCOT to stop pushing grid-upgrade costs onto residential customers. His letter explicitly included Bitcoin miners with data centers.
The stance is simple: Texas is ending the cheap-power subsidy that made the state crypto mining's cleanest U.S. pitch. The state is not banning miners. It is changing who gets the bill when big loads need new wires, substations, and backup plans.
CryptoSlate says Texas has about 20% of the national data center pipeline. It also found 121 facilities using the state's sales tax exemption. That exemption costs $1.3B this year and could cost $3.2B over two years, citing the Texas comptroller.
That math doesn't work once voters see home power bills rising. ERCOT's all-time peak was 85,508 MW on August 1, 2023, according to CryptoSlate. Its high-case 2032 demand forecast is 367,790 MW. Even if that forecast runs too hot, the politics are already set.
If you're a miner in Texas, your bag is now tied to AI demand. That is the uncomfortable part. Bitcoin miners spent years arguing they help the grid by shutting down during stress. AI data centers cannot make that promise as easily, but Abbott grouped them together anyway.
The 1970s money-market fight is the useful parallel. Banks looked safe while rates were boring. Then money funds showed depositors a better deal, and the old subsidy became visible. Texas power policy has the same problem now.
The near-term hit is limited. Existing signed interconnection deals are hard to reopen, according to CryptoSlate's summary. That means operating miners are less exposed than new builds and major expansions. Senate Bill 6 already pushed large loads toward backup power and emergency curtailment in 2025.
The real story is the template. Abbott ordered lower residential transmission costs by the end of July. He also gave the PUC and ERCOT until July 17 to say what they can change without new law. Broader changes, including the tax break rollback, wait for the 2027 Legislature.
Texas is still the biggest U.S. mining prize, for now. But the offer changed. Cheap power used to be the headline. Private grid funding is becoming the price of admission.
Abbott's choice to put Bitcoin miners and AI data centers on the same grid bill was deliberate, because residential customers were underwriting private load growth.
By July 17, watch whether the PUC and ERCOT memo requires new large-load applicants to pay direct grid-upgrade deposits before approval.
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