Oncor tells Richardson it will invest $36 billion in grid upgrades over five years; city staff to recommend denial of Oncor rate request

Oncor Electric Delivery (identified in the meeting as “Encore”) told the Richardson City Council it plans a multibillion‑dollar investment program to expand distribution automation, improve vegetation management and replace aging underground cable — and city staff said a separate rate request from the utility remains unsettled and will be the subject of a council resolution in October.

Why it matters: Oncor’s infrastructure and resilience spending affects electric reliability for Richardson residents and businesses and underpins large new‑load requests from data centers and other commercial users. Oncor’s capital plans feed into pending rate requests that would be reviewed by the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUC) if city steering‑committee negotiations fail.

Company presentation (high level) - Christie Tyra, Oncor area manager assigned to Richardson, told the council Oncor has committed roughly $36 billion in capital investment over the next five years to modernize and harden the grid and to keep pace with rapid load growth. Tyra said the company expects automation…