So let’s just get this out of the way: San Antonio’s public utility, CPS Energy, just dropped nearly $1.4 billion on four natural gas plants, a move that raises the question of How CPS Energy's $1.4B purchase could save customers money.
Read that again. In the year 2025, with everyone and their mother screaming about renewables and the grid of the future, our friendly neighborhood utility just went on a fossil fuel shopping spree. All while a government shutdown has federal workers wondering how they'll pay their next `CPS Energy bill`. The timing is just… perfect, isn't it?
We’re being sold a story here, a carefully crafted narrative of prudence and foresight. But when you peel back the layers of corporate PR, it starts to smell less like a strategy and more like a panic attack.
CPS Energy's leadership is framing this as a massive win for the consumer. CEO Rudy D. Garza says that by buying these "modern" (read: a few years old) plants, "we avoid higher construction costs, inflationary risk, and long timelines."
Let’s translate that from PR-speak into English. Translation: Building new stuff is hard, expensive, and takes forever. Buying someone else’s slightly used stuff is fast. It's the energy equivalent of flipping a house instead of building one from the ground up. It gets you a roof over your head tonight, but you’re inheriting whatever problems are lurking in the foundation.
They claim this move will save customers $2-4 a month over the next 25 years. I’m no Wall Street wizard, but taking on an unplanned $1.4 billion in debt to save me the cost of a fancy coffee once a month feels like some seriously fuzzy math. How fragile is that projection? What happens when natural gas prices inevitably spike again? Are we just kicking a much larger, more expensive can down the road?
And the real kicker? The line about these plants being "dual-fuel capable," with the "optionality to transition to a hydrogen fuel blend." This is my favorite part. It’s like buying a fleet of brand-new 2005 Ford Crown Victorias and promising everyone they’ll run on hydrogen… eventually. It’s a talking point designed to placate the green-conscious crowd while committing to another 40 years of burning stuff. It ain't the future; it's the past with a new coat of paint and a "hydrogen-ready" sticker slapped on the bumper.
While this massive gas deal was going down, what else was `CPS Energy Texas` pushing into the headlines? Two things, conveniently.
First, the launch of Padua 1, a 50-megawatt battery storage system. A BESS project is great, don't get me wrong. It’s the kind of tech we actually need. But look at the scale. A $1.4 billion investment in gas versus… one new battery. It feels less like a balanced strategy and more like a shiny object meant to distract us. Imagine the PR department, buzzing under fluorescent lights, smelling of stale coffee, pushing out press releases about the sleek, silent battery while the ink dries on the massive fossil fuel contract.
Then there’s the announcement that CPS ENERGY PREPARED TO ASSIST FEDERAL EMPLOYEES AFFECTED BY GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN. A whole menu of programs—REAP, the Senior Citizen Late Fee Waiver, the Budget Payment Plan. This is a good thing. No, wait, 'good' isn't the right word. It’s the decent thing to do. But you have to question the timing of the announcement. It’s a masterclass in perception management.
How can you be mad at the utility that’s helping your neighbor when they’re also making deals that will define your energy costs for the next generation? They're playing both sides. The compassionate community partner on one hand, and the hard-nosed energy baron on the other. And `offcourse` we're supposed to just smile and nod. It’s a brilliant strategy, really. Soothe the public’s immediate pain with payment plans while making a four-decade-long bet on the very energy sources we’re supposed to be moving away from.
Then again, maybe I'm the crazy one for even questioning it.
The whole thing feels like a carefully choreographed dance. A step to the left with a new battery, a step to the right with a customer assistance program, and then a giant, earth-shaking leap backward with a billion-dollar gas deal. What I want to know is, who is paying the band?
Let's be real. This isn't about saving us a couple of bucks or some far-off hydrogen dream. This is about one thing: raw power capacity, secured at any cost. CPS Energy saw a fast, relatively cheap way to plug a hole in the grid to keep the lights on in a fast-growing city, and they took it. The climate promises, the "Vision 2027" plans, the battery projects—that's all just marketing. The core of their strategy, revealed by this $1.4 billion check, is to double-down on the old ways. They’re buying certainty in an uncertain world, and we'll be paying for that certainty, in more ways than one, for a long, long time.
