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Texas Retail Power Provider Griddy Seeking Chapter 11, Says ERCOT Caused ‘Financial Devastation’
Houston-based retail electricity provider (REP) Griddy Energy LLC has filed for Chapter 11 protection in the wake of February’s Winter Storm Uri, which caused power outages along with skyrocketing electricity and natural gas prices.
A proposed reorganization would provide relief to Griddy customers unable to pay their electric bills as a result of scarcity pricing imposed in the wholesale power market during the storm.
Griddy on Monday blamed the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), the independent system operator that manages the flow of electricity to 90% of the state, an estimated 26 million-plus customers. Griddy said ERCOT was responsible for the “financial devastation” stemming from the storm.
Texas senators, armed with an emergency mandate from the governor, blew past typical procedures to pass a bill requiring energy regulators to retroactively lower prices during the February winter storm that knocked out power for millions.
A truck drives past a highway sign in Houston on Feb. 15, 2021. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
AUSTIN, Texas (CN) Last month’s winter storm has whipped the Texas Legislature into an unusually frantic state this week.
On Monday, state senators suspended the chamber’s rules, voted without a public hearing and bypassed the typical March 12 deadline for filing new bills in a scramble to pass an emergency statute aiming to reverse billions of dollars in electricity costs imposed by the state’s grid operator, the Electricity Reliability Council of Texas.
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3 Mar, 2021 Author Nephele KirongSelene Balasta
This is an update to the continuing financial impacts tracker:
Electricity and natural gas companies continued to warn of potential financial exposure from the February arctic freeze that caused a grid crisis in Texas, with the independent market monitor of the state s grid operator flagging flaws in certain market transactions that occurred during the winter storm.
Brazos Electric Power Cooperative Inc., the oldest and largest generation and transmission power cooperative in Texas, declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy after receiving excessively high invoices from the Electric Reliability Council Of Texas Inc. which required payment within days.