What distributed flexibility earns in Texas.
ERCOT is energy-only: no capacity auction, and FERC does not set the market rules. Fourteen of 45 ERCOT distribution cooperatives run at least one registered DER program.
August 2026 · Texture · Practitioner reference for cooperatives and municipal utilities
14 of 45
ERCOT distribution cooperatives with a registered DER program
$66.76
Transmission rate per kW-year; four summer 15-minute peaks set the bill
248.7 MW
Approved ADER energy capacity across 12 aggregations as of June 1, 2026
About this report
ERCOT covers about 90 percent of Texas electric load and more than 27 million customers. All-time peak demand is 85,508 MW, set on August 10, 2023. Retail electric providers supply 63.3 percent of residential and commercial accounts, cooperatives 19.6 percent, and municipals 16.9 percent. A cooperative or municipal that declined competition is a non-opt-in entity: it owns the meter, the rate, and the wholesale contract at once. FERC Order No. 2222 does not apply here.
Key findings
How does 4CP concentrate a year of transmission cost into four intervals?
ERCOT allocates the transmission cost of service to each distribution service provider on its 15-minute peak load interval in each of June, July, August, and September. The transmission rate is $66.76 per kilowatt-year, so a 500 MW load that removes itself from all four intervals avoids about $33.4 million a year. Senate Bill 6 directed the PUCT to amend its rules by December 31, 2026. Commission staff proposed replacing 4CP with twelve coincident peaks measured over a 30-minute interval.
Can aggregated DERs already transact in ERCOT?
The interconnection is intrastate, so FERC does not set wholesale market rules and Order 2222 reaches nothing here. The PUCT built the Aggregate Distributed Energy Resource pilot instead. As of June 1, 2026 it held 12 registered aggregations and 248.7 MW of approved energy capacity. Aggregations of premises at 100 kW or more, where each premise provides 1 MW or less, can transact in the ERCOT wholesale market in 2026, while several Order 2222 regions have compliance dates late in the decade.
Get the DER Value by Region: ERCOT Report.
Frequently asked questions
Does ERCOT have a capacity market?
No. ERCOT clears no capacity auction and assigns no load-serving entity a reserve obligation. Scarcity pricing under the Operating Reserve Demand Curve and a $5,000 per MWh system-wide offer cap carry the resource adequacy signal instead. Real-Time Co-optimization plus Batteries went live December 5, 2025.
Who owns the meter at a Texas cooperative?
A cooperative or municipal that declined competition is a non-opt-in entity in ERCOT rules. It does both jobs a retail electric provider and a transmission-and-distribution utility split elsewhere: it owns the meter, sets the rate, and holds the wholesale contract. Every REP customer takes delivery from one of five investor-owned TDUs, which own the meters and carry no retail customers of their own.
How common are DER programs at ERCOT cooperatives?
Fourteen of 45 ERCOT distribution cooperatives run at least one registered DER program, and those 14 run 23 programs between them. Thermostats lead at 12. Enrollment concentrates at two municipals: CPS Energy reported 506,073 customers enrolled and 167 MW of actual peak reduction, and Austin Energy reported 39,046 enrolled and 46.8 MW.