wind and 3% are gas. Through the nine months ended September 30, 2022, Oncor had approximately 230 new POI requests as compared to approximately 160 new POI requests during the same period of 2021. If new requests continue at this pace for the rest of the year, Oncor anticipates it will set a company record for new annual transmission interconnection requests in 2022.
The continued growth across Oncor’s service territory required the construction or upgrading of approximately 300 miles of power lines and included two major substation projects being placed in service in the third quarter of 2022. While the third quarter is generally considered a lighter in-service quarter for transmission projects due to ERCOT summer clearance constraints, Oncor placed $80 million of transmission projects into service in the third quarter of 2022. Also, Oncor expects a significant number of projects to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2022.
Operational Highlights
During the third quarter of 2022, Texas continued to experience significantly higher than normal temperatures. ERCOT’s record peak demand set in June, was broken several times in July reaching a new all-time record peak demand of over 80,000 megawatts on July 20, 2022. Throughout the heat wave experienced in the second and third quarters of 2022, Oncor’s system performed well and Oncor remains on pace to meet its reliability goals for 2022.
In September, Oncor answered the call of mutual assistance partners and deployed more than 500 employees and contractors to Florida as mutual assistance support to Florida utilities, prepositioning personnel and other resources to help restore power in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian.
In early October, an independent third party ESG ratings company improved its rating of Oncor, ranking Oncor in the top 3 percent of electric utilities rated by that agency.
Oncor’s commitment to Diversity, Equity & Inclusion continues to expand. In September 2022, Oncor rolled out an “I Belong” initiative to encourage employees to verify, or update as needed, their demographics. The goal of the initiative is to enable Oncor to enhance its culture and create new initiatives to help ensure that it is supporting all employees.
Capital Expenditure Plans
In the nine months ended September 30, 2022, Oncor’s capital expenditures totaled $2.2 billion and Oncor is on track to meet its $3.0 billion capital plan for 2022. Oncor has and expects to continue to review future capital expenditure plans with its board of directors. However, given the number of uncertainties at this stage in the capital expenditure planning process, particularly continued record growth in Texas, high inflation and a pending rate case, Oncor management recommended that its board of directors delay approval of a 2023 capital expenditure budget until a future board meeting. As a result, Oncor will not be updating its future capital plans at this time, but expects to announce a new five-year capital plan by the end of the first quarter of 2023.
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