El Paso Electric nears approval for $308 million to improve power grid

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- A judge recommended Public Utility Commission approval for El Paso Electric's resiliency plan Wednesday with some changes.

EPE filed the application in December 2025.

It's system resiliency plan initially requested $328 million from Texas regulators over the next three years to make the power grid stronger and more reliable.

The plan would help with outages during:

• High winds and dust storms
• Extreme heat
• Extreme cold
• Flooding and monsoon storms
• Cyberattacks on the electric grid

They would do that by replacing thousands of power poles and upgrading power lines. EPE also is asking for smarter technology to detect outages automatically and restore power faster.

In the application, EPE referenced a two-day wind event in February 2023. The event was responsible for 87 outages. It took 36 hours to restore power to all EPE customers.

EPE also referenced a 44-day stretch of temperatures above 100°F. They say the extreme temperatures drive more customers to adopt refrigerated air conditioning which increases electrical loads. This can lead to outages.

The recommendation reduced the request from $328 million to $308 million.

EPE has until June 17 to file corrections.