Senate Bill 24‑55 would establish an Energy Waste Advisory Committee to align multiple state agency programs and incentives aimed at energy efficiency and demand response, with the goal of reducing peak demand and strengthening grid reliability.

Sponsor Senator Hancock said the state has numerous programs in separate agencies — including PUC, SECO, TCEQ, TDHCA and TDLR — and that those programs should be coordinated to meet a recently adopted reliability standard for the ERCOT region. "These programs are managed by different state agencies, often in isolation," Hancock said, and the committee would "recommend policies and foster interagency collaboration to reduce energy waste, increase efficiency, and strengthen demand response initiatives."

Supporters described potential scale and no‑cost opportunities. Will McAdams and Matt Baums of energy and advanced‑energy organizations said coordinated use of existing federal and state incentives and programs could reduce demand by multiple gigawatts; Baums told the committee the bill "doesn't require any new spending" and could help channel existing funds to deliver roughly 4–4.5 GW of demand reduction, which supporters said would assist ERCOT in meeting its reliability standard. Cyrus Reed of the Sierra Club said the measure would help focus programs on the hours where the grid is most stressed and suggested a few additional agencies be considered for inclusion.

Committee members and witnesses characterized the bill as an organizational and coordination step rather than a new regulatory regime; the committee left the bill pending.