Authors:
Pat Wood III (PUCT Chairman 1995-2001, FERC Chairman 2001-2005)
Robert W. Gee (PUCT Chairman/Commissioner, 1991-1997)
Judy Walsh (PUCT Commissioner 1995-2001)
Brett Perlman (PUCT Commissioner 1999-2003)
Becky Klein (PUCT Commissioner/Chairman 2001-2004)
Alison Silverstein (PUCT advisor 1995-2001, FERC advisor 2001-2004)
The historic weather system that hit the South Central United States in February 2021 led to the deaths of nearly 200 Texans and caused over $100 billion in damages to Texans’ homes and property. Its impacts on power, natural gas, water, and transportation infrastructure were profound, leading the power grid operator, Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), to order all local utilities to immediately decrease power demand early on February 15. This grid reliability order led to cuts in electric service to over four million premises, leaving millions of Texans out of power and in miserable conditions for up to four days.
The Texas Legislature has sent to Governor Abbott new statutes to address some of the problems that contributed to this disaster. But beyond these new laws, Texas has more work ahead to protect customers and ensure that our energy infrastructure works adequately. The February outages were triggered by an extreme weather event but were exacerbated by underlying problems that affected the entire energy system from the production of natural gas to the delivery of electricity to the customer.
These problems extend beyond the Electric Reliability Council of Texas(ERCOT) and the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) to include parts of the energy system regulated by the Texas Railroad Commission, the Texas Reliability Entity, and the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, all of which bear some responsibility for the reliability of our energy system. If Texas is to mitigate future energy system disasters and restore our state’s reputation, we must do more than just tighten governance on ERCOT and the PUCT, weatherize power plants, patch the electric market, and reform some utility and retail practices.