House E&C Democrats question ERCOT CEO over response to Texas winter storm, outages
Leaders from the House Energy and Commerce Committee (E&C) have written to Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) President and CEO Bill Magness seeking answers about the organization’s failures during the recent deadly winter storm.
The letter from Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), Energy Subcommittee Chairman Bobby Rush (D-IL), Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Chair Diana DeGette (D-CO), along with U.S. Reps. Marc Veasey (D-TX) and Lizzie Fletcher (D-TX) followed a letter dispatched to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott weeks ago. In this case, E&C Democrats wanted to know how ERCOT had prepared for such inclement weather and how it responded.
“The ongoing crisis raises significant questions regarding Texas’ grid resilience and regulatory regime, and ERCOT’s stewardship of the grid prior to and during this crisis,” the five Committee members wrote. “According to reports, ERCOT was aware of the possibility of a significant winter weather event as early as Tuesday, February 9, 2021, but may not have appreciated the seriousness of the event or its possible implications.”
The storm in question caused chaos at all levels of the state, resulting in electricity prices jumping up to $9,000 per megawatt hour and bills in the thousands, rolling blackouts for millions, water supply shortages, and ultimately, the deaths of 32 people. At the heart of the problem is that this wasn’t the first time such weather had struck Texas hard — lawmakers pointed to an incident in 2011 that had prompted the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) to make recommendations for improvements among the electric and natural gas industry.
Several recommendations were focused on ERCOT. By all indications, those recommendations were not followed.
Several ERCOT executives have lost their jobs as a result of the crisis, including Magness. Last week, the ERCOT Board of Directors announced his termination. However, it noted that he would remain in his position for another 60 days to assist with the leadership transition and potential new reforms.
“Several of these recommendations were directed at ERCOT, but it is unclear the extent to which ERCOT implemented any of these recommendations,” the lawmakers wrote. “With extreme weather events becoming more frequent due to climate change, it is critical that ERCOT and Texas apply lessons from earlier emergency events in order to increase the strength and resiliency of the grid and prevent future blackouts.”
