AEP Texas is getting a federal loan worth more than $3 billion to upgrade the power grid.

The U.S. Department of Energy is providing the loan, which will fund 89 transmission line projects. Some of those projects will be outside the Rio Grande Valley, but AEP Texas says customers in the Rio Grande Valley will still benefit from it.

"Without this loan, we would have to finance these projects at a higher cost, and it would take a lot longer," AEP Texas President and Chief Operating Officer Adrian Rodriguez said. "We're able to make our system much more resilient with lower interest than we otherwise would have been able to get over time. So ultimately this is a lower cost that our customers are going to see compared to what we otherwise would have been able to do."

The lower interest rate is expected to save residents around $685 million over a period of 30 years.