There are currently 180,000 CPS Energy customers struggling to pay their utility bills and risk having their power shut off for nonpayment. Meanwhile, CPS Energy is planning to request a rate increase this year, and SAWS will be asking to raise your bills in April.

The districts with the highest disconnection rates for nonpayment were Districts 2, 3, and 4, making up the South and East sides of the city. As time passes, summers are getting hotter and living is only getting more expensive. San Antonians can’t carry the burden of another rate hike.

San Antonio is experiencing exponential growth of data centers in San Antonio. It’s anticipated there could be up to 26GW of demand from them. That’s enough power for 17 million homes! . CPS Energy Chief Strategic Officer Elania Ball said, “AI, large language models, machine learning — these technologies are helping us solve some significant human and societal challenges”, but at what cost? A failing energy grid, dry aquifers, and increasing energy bills? We demand transparency from CPS Energy and SAWS on their plans for future infrastructure investment for data center expansion. We demand transparency on the potential burden data centers will put on our community. Regular, working San Antonians should not foot the bill for data centers!

We demand the following of CPS Energy and of San Antonio City Council to ensure the protection of working families and accountability to San Antonio rate payers:

City Council must appoint an independent consumer advocate to represent residential ratepayers in the 2026 rate increase request.
City Council must mandate that CPS Energy develop a public process for a rate structure update, as has already been called on by City Council members.
City Council should mandate that CPS Energy audit their affordability discount program to offer more assistance to customers that face disconnections.
CPS Energy and the San Antonio City Council must not pursue or approve another rate hike in the face of extreme weather events, inequitable power usage, and extreme inflation and poverty brought on by war and the climate crisis.

As the saying goes, “you can not get blood from a stone,” and if CPS energy does indeed get another rate increase this year, which we at Climate Justice San Antonio will fight against, we know that even more residents will fall behind on their bills and suffer: The elderly, children, workers,medically fragile people, and working class people from all over the city who are struggling under artificially inflated high costs of living and stagnant, low wages.