Sempra told analysts on its third-quarter call that the next five-year base capital plan for Oncor, its Texas transmission and distribution utility, is expected to be approximately 20 percent higher than the existing 47.5 billion dollar plan. The 2027 to 2031 plan will be published with fourth-quarter results in February 2027. A 20 percent increase on 47.5 billion dollars implies a plan of about 57 billion dollars, by this site’s calculation; Sempra did not state a total.
The increase reflects the one-year roll-forward of the plan, continued customer and load growth, and three projects moving from the incremental opportunity pipeline into the base plan. It deliberately excludes the Eastern 765 kilovolt STEP transmission projects, the second System Resiliency Plan and Batch 0 investments, all of which sit in the incremental pipeline and would add further capital if approved or endorsed. Management stressed that Oncor only moves projects into its base plan after approval by the Texas utility commission or endorsement by ERCOT.
Demand behind the plan keeps setting records. Oncor’s system peak reached 33 gigawatts, 6 percent above the previous record, and large-load requests excluding data centres rose 23 percent year on year to 19 gigawatts, split roughly between manufacturing at 6 gigawatts, oil and gas at 5 gigawatts, utilities and government including military bases at 4 gigawatts, and other commercial and industrial customers at 4 gigawatts.
Sempra reported third-quarter GAAP earnings of 877 million dollars, or 1.34 dollars per diluted share, against 77 million dollars a year earlier, and adjusted earnings of 917 million dollars, or 1.40 dollars per share, up 26 percent, driven mainly by Sempra Texas. The company guided 2026 adjusted earnings toward the high end of its 4.80 to 5.30 dollar range and reaffirmed 2027 guidance of 5.10 to 5.70 dollars.