Seeking lower electricity rates, residents in two East Texas towns hope the state will intervene
Livingston and Jasper residents hope a lawsuit will force their municipality-operated utility company to offer lower rates and create more transparency in setting rates. Theyโre among the 5 million Texans living outside the stateโs deregulated market and cannot choose their energy provider.
State agency that oversees Texas power grid needs more money to do its job, Sunset Commission finds
The Public Utility Commission has about 200 employees but needs more to handle shoring up the state power grid and tackling an expanded list of regulatory duties, according to the state Sunset Advisory Commission.
Analysis: A power test for Texas voters
After last winterโs near-statewide electric blackouts, Texas lawmakers went after regulators they deemed responsible but tiptoed around the Texas Railroad Commission, which regulates oil and gas. Now voters have a chance, if they want it, to send the state a message.
ERCOT will have to release information about power plant outages quicker โ but it may not detail what causes them
The Public Utility Commission said the state's main power grid operator will have three days โ instead of 60 โ to release some information about power plant outages. But that may not include why the electricity generators were offline.
Texas House targets power grid flaw that cut electricity to natural gas facilities and worsened February blackouts
Gov. Greg Abbott nominates new chair to Public Utility Commission after power crisis resignations
Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday named Peter Lake the new chair of the Texas Public Utility Commission, the public board that regulates the stateโs power grid operators and saw all three of its members resign in the wake of Februaryโs deadly winter storm.
Texas lawmakers want to prevent another power crisis. But the legislation doesnโt go far enough to do that, critics say
Lawmakers are trying to prevent another power grid failure like the one that occurred during last monthโs deadly winter storm. (Credit: Jordan Vonderhaar for The Texas Tribune)Both the Texas Senate and House have written bills that attempt to prevent another massive power failure in extreme temperatures. House Bill 11, sponsored by State Rep. Chris Paddie, R-Marshall, was part of a package of bills that the lower chamber preliminarily approved Tuesday. โIt doesnโt go far enough to truly protect Texans from the next winter weather calamity,โ Jacoby said during a committee hearing on the bill on March 18. โUnder this definition of an extreme weather emergency, these mandates would not apply,โ Jacoby said during the committee meeting.
After House stalls on readjusting electricity prices, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick urges Gov. Greg Abbott to use emergency powers
Patrick leads the Texas Senate and has been pushing legislation that would retroactively adjust prices for wholesale electricity after massive power outages last month. Greg Abbott to take executive action on reversing billions of dollars in charges for wholesale electricity during last monthโs deadly winter storm after the Texas House adjourned for the week without taking up the issue. AdโThe governor of Texas is a very powerful person,โ Patrick said at a Capitol news conference, ramping up his dayslong campaign to get Abbott to intervene. And, while the bill was referred to a House committee Thursday morning, the House gaveled out until Monday afternoon. Abbott, whose office had defended DโAndrea on Friday, did not provide a reason for why he had requested DโAndreaโs resignation.
Thereโs no one left on Texasโ Public Utility Commission after final board member resigns at Gov. Greg Abbottโs request
Public Utility Commission Chair Arthur DโAndrea has resigned, Gov. D'Andrea was the only remaining member of the three-seat commission that regulates the state's electric, telecommunication and water and sewer utilities. The other two commissioners, including the chair at the time, DeAnn Walker, had resigned in recent weeks over fallout related to last month's winter storm. "Tonight, I asked for and accepted the resignation of PUC Commissioner Arthur DโAndrea," the governor said in a statement, adding that he plans to name "a replacement in the coming days who will have the responsibility of charting a new and fresh course for the agency." โTexans deserve to have trust and confidence in the Public Utility Commission, and this action is one of many steps that will be taken to achieve that goal,โ Abbott said.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick focuses scorn on Public Utility Commission after winter storm, testing Gov. Greg Abbott
Greg Abbott has worked to lay blame squarely on the stateโs electrical-grid operator โ despite the fact that it is overseen by the Abbott-appointed Public Utility Commission. Last week, Patrick called for the resignation of the PUC chair at the time, DeAnn Walker โ and hours later, she called it quits. In a Friday evening statement, Patrick called on Abbott to โintercedeโ and replace DโAndrea, daring the governor to abandon his 9-day-old appointee. Abbott had already called on ERCOT leadership to resign but had not said anything about the PUC. AdIn his Friday evening statement, Patrick asked Abbott to โreplace Mr. DโAndrea on the PUC when he fills the other two vacancies there.โโMr.
CPS Energy sues ERCOT over exorbitant energy prices during Texas winter storm
SAN ANTONIO โ CPS Energy on Friday sued the Electric Reliability Council of Texas after an independent monitor for the Public Utility Commission reported the grid managers overcharged power companies during the winter storm. In the lawsuit, CPS Energy accused ERCOT of not paying what it owes to the San Antonio utility. โERCOT has short paid approximately $2.5 billion to the market participants, and at least $18 million is owed to CPS Energy for the Winter Storm Event,โ according to the court filing. โCPS Energy is taking this action to defend its customers. Price charts for the natural gas spot market show natural gas increased nearly two-fold Feb. 11, before spiking Feb. 17.
Texas utility regulator says ERCOT overcharged power companies by far less than $16 billion cited by watchdog group
Credit: Sergio Flores for The Texas TribuneโThe stateโs energy grid operator overcharged power companies by roughly $3 billion after the winter storm, the chairman of Texasโ utility regulator said Thursday, pushing back on a previous report from an agency watchdog that said the companies were overcharged by $16 billion. But a letter submitted Thursday by Potomac Economics repeated that ERCOT overcharged companies by $16 billion. AdIt is still unclear whether and how this overcharge directly affects Texas electricity customers, however many power companies have taken a significant financial hit. In Texas, wholesale power prices are determined by supply and demand: When demand is high, ERCOT allows prices to go up. During the storm, the PUC directed the grid operator to set wholesale power prices at $9,000 per megawatt-hour โ the maximum price.
Texas will not fix ERCOT's $16 billion power billing mistake
โI totally get how it looks like you're protecting consumers [by readjusting electric prices],โ DโAndrea said Friday during a PUC meeting. In Texas, wholesale power prices are determined by supply and demand: When demand is high, ERCOT allows prices to go up. During the storm, PUC directed the grid operator to set wholesale power prices at $9,000 per megawatt hour โ the maximum price. Raising prices is intended to incentivize power generators in the state to add more power to the grid. Companies then buy power from the wholesale market to deliver to consumers, which they are contractually obligated to do.
Another ERCOT board member resigns as lawmakers criticize power grid operator for massive electricity outages
After the near-collapse of the stateโs power grid, seven board members of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas have resigned. Credit: Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas TribuneAnother Electric Reliability Council of Texas board member has resigned after a winter storm caused the near-collapse of the stateโs power grid. Clifton Karnei, executive vice president of Brazos Electric Power Cooperative, is the seventh board member of the stateโs power grid operator to quit this week. RELATED: Political contributions link ERCOT board to Abbott and the state committee now investigating the troubled entityUnlike Karnei, the other board members who resigned this week reside outside of Texas. โThe PUC was non-existent.โThe other board members who resigned this week did so at an ERCOT board meeting on Wednesday.
Top board leaders resign after deadly Texas power outages
AdFour of the departing board members acknowledged โconcerns about out-of-state board leadership" in a letter to grid members and the state's Public Utility Commission, which oversees ERCOT. The board members did not reflect on their own performance in the letter. The other board members are vice chairman Peter Cramton, Terry Bulger and Raymond Hepper. The selection of โunaffiliatedโ ERCOT board members โ like most of those who are resigning โ must be approved by the PUC. Hepper also declined comment beyond the resignation letter, and other board members did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Analysis: Texas tries to make the connections on broadband internet
Greg Abbottโs list of priorities, the call for broadband internet might be the most popular in the state Legislature. And a related telecommunications dispute at the Public Utility Commission is tied up in court, potentially threatening phone service in some rural areas of the state and with it, access to broadband internet. But those subsidies have been dwindling, which could make it more difficult to get broadband internet service to customers in those areas. The state fund is for phone service โ not internet. โTo further expand access to high-speed internet and cultivate prosperity for the state, Texas should support the creation of a state broadband plan, authorize a broadband office within the Economic Development and Tourism Office and eliminate barriers to provide greater access to broadband services,โ he wrote.
Nearly 600,000 Texans will lose access to a program that prevented electricity shut offs during the pandemic on Oct. 1
On Oct. 1, Texans who were previously protected by a state program blocking utility disconnections during the coronavirus pandemic, could again be at risk of having their lights shut off because they cant pay their bills. Advocates and users criticized the program for being difficult to register for and being advantageous to utility providers, rather than consumers. Customers will only be required to pay what hasnt already been offset by discounts given to energy providers as a result of the program. Texans receiving unemployment relief are also eligible to register for the program until then. In total, about 3.3 million Texans have applied for unemployment relief benefits since mid-March.
Analysis: Funding for rural broadband in Texas is in trouble. The pandemic might save it.
Phone companies and some rural state legislators are asking utility regulators to increase the tax on interstate telecommunications services that fills the Texas Universal Service Fund. TUSF, the high-cost and small and rural programs in particular, is what has given the opportunity for small and rural telecommunications providers to build and maintain the foundational network platform that allows rural Texas to remain connected. Before, but certainly with the current pandemic crisis, these small rural telecommunications carriers have stepped up to help provide the critical services needed as our citizens face a more online environment. By March 2019, the PUC staff wrote, the fund was falling short by $5 million to $7 million per month. The idea in rural Texas was that the hardest-to-reach customers the most expensive ones wouldnt get service at affordable rates and that the fund could subsidize them.