The federal government is directing $50 million toward Houston’s power grid, with Energy Secretary Chris Wright saying the investment is aimed at reducing transmission bottlenecks and lowering electricity costs for consumers.
Wright made the disclosure Tuesday at a press event hosted by CenterPoint Energy in Houston, joined by representatives from the Texas Division of Emergency Management.
Wright said the funding is intended to squeeze more capacity out of existing infrastructure rather than build new facilities. He described that strategy as a faster path to increasing power supply and pushing prices down.
“The fastest way to get new power onto the grid, which pushes down prices, is to liberate more power from the existing generation facilities we already have,” Wright said.
He pointed to New York as a cautionary example, where transmission constraints force the state to burn oil instead of cheaper natural gas during peak demand — a dynamic that drives up electricity prices across New England.
When asked whether the U.S. can expand liquefied natural gas exports while keeping up with rising domestic demand, Wright said yes — citing growth in domestic production as the reason natural gas prices are roughly half what they were 20 years ago, when the U.S. was a net importer.
Wright also drew a contrast between states with strong energy production growth and those — including California, New York and Massachusetts — that have scaled back electricity output, arguing the latter have paid for it with persistently high energy prices.
Wright acknowledged that ongoing global conflicts have kept diesel prices elevated but said the administration is pursuing several strategies to bring them down, including increasing domestic refinery output, coordinating with India on refinery capacity and pushing European partners to release diesel reserves.
A resolution to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Wright added, could also free up additional diesel exports to global markets — though no timeline was offered.
