As temperatures rise and consumption grows, demand for electricity continues to push the limit.

Officials for the Energy Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) outlined a forecast for their state that sees demand breaking new records during the summer months. ERCOT is the organization for ensuring the reliable delivery of electricity to about 27 million customers representing about 90% of the state’s market.

In a presentation to the Board of Directors on June 2, Dan Woodfin, vice president of system operations at ERCOT, outlined several factors contributing to what is expected to be a challenging summer.

As always, weather will play a part. Conditions this summer are expected to be warmer than last year, and dry.

Load, or the amount of electricity needed by customers, is also on the rise, especially from cryptocurrency and data centers. ERCOT notes that its network has added 466 megawatts (MW) of load from cryptocurrency miners since September 2025.

Growth will continue this summer. The agency expects so-called “large load growth,” which includes data centers, to increase by about 1,725 MW from May to September of this year.

Other sources have noted a similar trend. In a blog post on June 5, Hitachi Energy, Raleigh, N.C., noted that ERCOT leads the nation in energy demand growth. It experienced 9% growth from October 2025 to March 2026, compared to 2% for the rest of the country. Hitachi also attributed much of that expansion to the growth of data centers.

All these factors are expected to push the need for electricity this summer in Texas to a record high, peak demand of 92,211 MW. That would break the previous record of 85,464 MW set only three years ago in the summer of 2023.

ERCOT officials say they are prepared. In his presentation, Woodfin outlined two new tools the organization can use to help manage the demand. One allows operators to better assess and discharge electricity stored in batteries. A second allows them to curtail large loads during peak demand.