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Governor Greg Abbott speaks at the state capitol concerning the latest developments statewide in the coronavirus issue on March. 13, 2020.Tom Reel, San Antonio Express-News / Staff photographer
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott dispatched a top aide to the ERCOT operations center on the night the grid operator made the controversial decision to leave electricity prices at maximum levels a move blamed for creating a multi-billion dollar mess.
Abbott has squarely placed the blame for the blackout boondoggle on ERCOT, which operates the power grid, and called for its CEO to resign right after the lights started coming back on across Texas on Thursday, Feb. 18. The ERCOT board eventually fired its CEO.
By Bob Smith, Sage President & CIO
According to a recent letter written to the Texas Public Utility Commission (PUC) by Potomac Economics, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) made a $16 billion error in pricing during the week of Winter Storm Uri. This reportedly occurred because the PUC directed the grid operator to set wholesale power prices at $9,000 per megawatt hour for two days during the storm the maximum market price allowed. Retail power providers then bought power from the wholesale market to deliver to consumers, because they were contractually obligated to do so. Because ERCOT failed to bring prices back down on time, those companies had to buy power in the market at extremely inflated prices.
3 Min Read
HOUSTON, March 3 (Reuters) - Eight energy companies have failed to pay nearly $1 billion for power and services during February’s deadly power blackout in Texas, the state’s grid operator said this week, and the costs are likely to fall on consumers.
A winter-storm surge in demand saddled the companies that sell, transmit and generate electricity in the state with about $47 billion in costs as fuel prices soared. Texas consumers will see higher prices as the unpaid fees are passed along to remaining providers.
Power grid operator Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) last week said grid users it did not identify had failed to pay $2.46 billion due. ERCOT identified eight companies that had failed to pay a total $930,000 this week, including Brazos Electric Power Cooperative.
ERCOT overcharged power companies $16 billion for electricity during winter freeze, firm says
Mitchell Ferman, ERIN DOUGLAS, The Texas Tribune
March 4, 2021
FacebookTwitterEmail ERCOT overcharged power companies $16 billion for electricity during winter freeze, firm says was first published by The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans and engages with them about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas made a $16 billion error in pricing during the week of the winter storm that caused power outages across the state, according to a filing by its market monitor.
Potomac Economics, the independent market monitor for the Public Utility Commission of Texas, which oversees ERCOT, wrote in a letter to the Public Utility Commission that ERCOT kept market prices for power too high for nearly two more days after widespread outages ended late Feb. 17. It should have reset the prices