ENERGY

Gov. Greg Abbott is guaranteeing Texans won’t have issues keeping the power on this winter.

We want to hear from Texans about how this catastrophic event is still affecting their lives.

Natural gas powers the majority of electricity in Texas, especially during winter. Some power companies say the state’s gas system is not ready for another deep freeze.

The most severe scenario considered by ERCOT for this winter — very high demand for power, extensive fossil fuel outages, and low renewable power production — does not capture the amount of power lost during February.

Luke Warford, a 32-year-old former Texas Democratic Party staffer, is challenging Republican incumbent Wayne Christian for a seat on the Texas Railroad Commission.

They didn't make a majority of Texas voters happy on a single issue, but the Republican majority in the Legislature made most of their own voters happy — and then drew maps that minimize political threats to them in the November general election.

The funds will help advance existing plans, pay for much-needed repairs and launch other projects for roads, bridges, broadband access, electric vehicle charging stations and more.

Cutting methane emissions is one of the most effective short-term tools humanity has to reduce immediate damage from climate change. The Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed rule could require oil and gas companies to monitor and reduce emissions of methane in the field.

The state Public Utility Commission adopted a rule — which experts first recommended a decade ago following a winter storm — requiring power companies to use “best efforts” to ensure plants can operate in the winter.

Oil and gas industry groups provided a list of names to the Railroad Commission for appointment to a council formed in response to the February power crisis. All four of the industry's top choices were selected.

The controversial issues you’ve heard Texas lawmakers debate for most of the year aren’t going away; many of them will be argued all over again during the 2022 elections.

Surging prices aren’t a result of anti-carbon policies so much as the outcome of a battered global economy on a bumpy road to recovery.

Historians long thought the Karankawa people had disappeared. But now a group of descendants is fighting to protect a coastal area — where thousands of Karankawa artifacts were found — from an encroaching oil export facility.

The law says the state's natural gas system won't be required to prepare for extreme weather until 2022 at the earliest and allows companies to opt out of weatherization requirements.

Texas-based ConocoPhillips bought Shell’s Permian Basin assets for $9.5 billion, its second major purchase in the oil-rich area over the last year.

The new law may soon be in conflict with federal regulators. A decision from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on one company’s license could come as early as Monday.

Under a settlement reached between the Texas Attorney General's Office and Griddy Energy, customers have been released from all outstanding debts incurred during Winter Storm Uri.

A failed regular session bill sought to give a financial break to a West Texas nuclear waste disposal company. Now, lawmakers have removed what opponents called a giveaway and are again trying to pass a bill to stop highly radioactive materials from coming to Texas.

The Senate approved a $1 trillion, bipartisan bill that also earmarks money for broadband internet access. It’s not yet known how much money set aside for the country’s aging electricity infrastructure could go to Texas’ main power grid.

For some energy experts, the increase in donations for the officials at the close of the session looks like a reward for not passing more stringent regulations and raises questions about whether lawmakers let the oil, gas and the broader energy industry off easy for its massive failures.

The state’s electricity regulators said they’re taking steps to assure a skeptical public that the power won’t go out again if Texas experiences extreme weather this summer.

Nearly 150 speakers (including 20 more biggies revealed today) across more than 50 sessions. Four days of virtual programs. Two jampacked days of in-person programs. Everything streamed. Everything on demand. Are you as excited as we are?

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) released a new plan Tuesday to address improvements and outline reforms to the Texas Power Grid, according to a news release.

The governor did not include many specifics about how regulators should carry out his requests to improve the state's main power grid.

Federal agencies that manage national parks said Texas overestimated the cost of new emission regulations and failed to address their concerns in its analysis.

The Public Utility Commission said the state's main power grid operator will have three days — instead of 60 — to release some information about power plant outages. But that may not include why the electricity generators were offline.

Texans were asked to cut back on their electricity use for a week because of “tight” power grid conditions, according to ERCOT officials. They still haven’t said what caused the plant outages.

The operator had urged electricity conservation earlier this week as several power generators unexpectedly went offline as temperatures rose this week.

The nomination comes the same week that ERCOT asked Texans to cut back their electricity use to avoid outages. Cobos’ term will last until Sept. 1

“This is the sort of weather that a well-functioning Texas power grid should have no trouble meeting,” Cohan said. “These shouldn’t be such close calls.”

A number of power plants were inexplicably offline at the same time that Texas was experiencing record June demand for electricity. ERCOT officials are still working to determine why.

The state’s grid operator indicated that conditions are improving and said that power outages to residents are unlikely.

A map recently produced by CPS Energy showed something many San Antonio residents suspected was true during Winter Storm Uri — outages were vastly unequal between neighborhoods.

As we emerge from the pandemic, our signature annual ideas conference will be a best-of-both-worlds convening. Some of our programming will be virtual. Some of it will be in person. All of it will be awesome.

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas says a large number of power plants are offline, but it could not provide details as to what may be causing the “very concerning” number of outages. At the same time, the state is experiencing near-record demand for electricity in June.

A Conservation Alert was issued Monday advising that the demand for energy was getting close to the state’s energy supply level.

Senate Bills 2 and 3 are aimed at overhauling the state’s power grid after the devastating winter storm in February and the widespread power outages that followed.

While lawmakers took significant steps toward preventing another blackout, hardly any of the proposals passed during this legislative session will aid consumers in recovering from the February storm — but they’ll see higher utility bills.

If you need a new dishwasher, plants to spruce up the yard, or just want to stock up on light bulbs, Memorial Day weekend may be the time to shop. Texans pay no sales tax on qualifying energy-saving and water-sipping appliances and products.

The city made plans to join the state's main power grid in 2015. But some residents and leaders feel anxious about the move after February's deadly winter storm.

After failing last session, lawmakers finalized a bill — described as a “delicate compromise” — that provides new protections for landowners in negotiating with companies attempting to seize their land through eminent domain.

Before this year's legislative session ends Monday, the Texas House and Senate will need to hammer out differences in their respective proposals. The legislation is a response to February's catastrophic power outages.

Several billions of dollars in state-approved financing will be necessary to stabilize the state’s distressed energy market after the winter storm. Texas approves more in finance bailouts for its utilities than any other state.

Sen. Carol Alvarado, D-Houston, spent years negotiating with industry groups to get new regulations placed on the chemical industry after the ITC fire in 2019. The bill has passed both chambers, but small changes need to be ironed out before it is sent to Gov. Greg Abbott.

The Texas House could take up its proposal to better prepare for extreme weather as soon as Sunday. The chambers have a little more than a week to wrap up remaining work.

House Bill 17 is a response to a trend in California, where cities have passed energy efficiency plans that prohibit new subdivisions from offering natural gas heating to reduce emissions.

Time is running out on a slate of other bills lawmakers are considering that stem from February's deadly winter storm.

Magness gave the presentation Wednesday during the first ERCOT board of directors meeting since the winter storm passed through the Lone Star State. AdMagness’ presentations also included comparisons to Texas’ last severe winter storm in 2011. (KSAT)The Dallas-Fort Worth area had been at or below freezing temperatures for 140 consecutive hours, compared to 101 hours in 2011′s winter storm. In Austin, the city was at freezing temperatures for 162 consecutive hours, compared to 69 hours in 2011. ERCOT officials will testify about the winter storm outages in front of the Texas Legislature on Thursday.

One claim making the rounds on social media alleged the Biden administration played a role in throttling power production in the name of protecting the environment. After digging into the evidence behind these claims, KSAT’s Trust Index team has determined those social media posts are not true. “It looks like the Biden administration pretty much gave ERCOT what it asked for,” said Dr. Daniel Cohan, Associate Professor of civil and environmental engineering for Rice University. While it’s not ideal to have power generators exceed environmental limits, Cohan said it was necessary during this emergency. “And so the Biden administration gave them everything they asked for to be able to keep those power plants running.”AdCohan thinks the social media claims suggesting the Biden administration somehow throttled power production are off-base.

SAN ANTONIO – In the aftermath of Texas’ winter storm disaster, Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff wrote a letter to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott Friday, asking him to radically change how the state’s power grid operates. The outages, officials said, were necessary as the state was “minutes” away from an even more devastating blackout. Before that, the state’s power system was integrated, with all three roles carried out by appointed or elected commissioners. “Across the state, deregulation led to ‘just in time power’ purchases from wholesalers without the incentive for storing back-up generation power,” Wolff wrote.

San Antonio – Power may have been scarce this week for CPS customers, but it’s likely to also end up being expensive. Now that the electricity reliability crisis is over, CPS Energy CEO Paula Gold-Williams says affordability issues are looming because of the high fuel costs during the cold weather. I stopped counting at 16,000 percent.”Part of your CPS bill is based on a “Fuel Adjustment Charge,” which covers the fuel costs of associated with CPS generating power, the purchase of renewable power, and purchases from the open energy market. Typically, these fuel costs roll into bills over a 45 to 60 day period, but CPS is trying to find a way to spread the cost out over a longer period. AdThough the final effect on your bill isn’t clear yet, CPS officials stressed it has not been disconnecting customers since March.