Texas House Speaker: No error in ERCOT s $16 billion charges, decision may have saved lives dallasnews.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from dallasnews.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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.
5 things we learned from this week s hearings on Texas power outages dallasnews.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from dallasnews.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Texas lawmakers on Thursday found themselves on the horns of a power market dilemma: expect lawsuits from utilities and traders if they retroactively cut cold-snap electricity prices, or "cascading bankruptcies" if they do not.