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Jason Wells

President, Chief Executive Officer & Chairman, Centerpoint

Search every verified Jason Wells interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Jason Wells, chair, president, and CEO of CenterPoint Energy, has recently discussed the company's efforts to address rising electricity demand in the Houston region and Indiana. At a September 2026 panel on powering AI growth, Wells noted the region's history of connecting large industrial loads and said data centers can help drive utility rates down, citing a Texas law requiring data centers to cover direct infrastructure upgrade costs. He also emphasized the complexity of integrating large loads onto coastal grids, including resiliency standards and voltage management technology. In earnings calls, Wells reported that CenterPoint increased its capital investment plan by $800 million to support system upgrades tied to an expected 14 gigawatts of eligible base load projects, which he said could be connected at less than $60 million per gigawatt. He estimated residential and commercial customers would save over $5 billion over the next decade through these additions. Wells also forecast a nearly 50% increase in Houston peak demand by 2031, from about 21 gigawatts to nearly 31 gigawatts, and described progress in Indiana on unlocking incremental capacity for large loads. He reiterated the company's full-year 2026 non-GAAP EPS guidance of $1.89 to $1.91, representing 8% growth over 2025 results.

Recent appearances

Notable quotes

“There's a lot of misinformation. Are data centers driving utility rates up? And in fact, they help drive utility rates down. The state of Texas passed a law that basically codified effectively what Ellie announced, which was data centers have to pay all of the direct infrastructure costs to upgrade the system so that they can draw power from it. Plus what they do is they share in the other cost on the system. So when”

“So, if you think about the greater Houston region today, it's about a 22 gigawatt peak demand. But what I think is important about that peak demand in Houston here is we were connecting large loads before they became popular. So before people started to talk about data centers, they were talking about oil refineries, chemical and processing facilities, right? And I think it's all along the Gulf Coast, not just here i”

“The GDP of the greater Houston region is approaching $2 billion a day; every day we're without power is costing not just our local economy but broader Texas, the national, and in some cases the global economy given the importance of the petrochemical complex in our backyard.”

“I try to simplify our business model in one where if we have happy customers, we generally will have happy regulators and legislators. And if we have happy regulators and legislators, generally the financial model works for our investors who fund these investments, but it starts first with that customer experience.”

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