Public Utility Commission chair Peter Lake had spearheaded a plan to help the state’s power grid withstand weather disasters, but the plan lacked support in the Texas Legislature.

In a Monday committee hearing, lawmakers questioned whether a Public Utility Commission proposal to redesign Texas’ electricity market would lead to the building of more natural-gas-fired power plants. Regulators say it would.

The leaders of Texas’ top utilities say the grid is stable enough to handle the state’s demand for the winter season.

The proposal is aimed at making sure power providers and electricity generators have enough power on hand in case of increased demand. But it’s not clear how it would hold up in unexpected weather, an expert said.

The Public Utility Commission of Texas adopted a rate hike in July, so some Texans can expect their phone bills to go up next month.

Many Texans are about to see an increase in their monthly cellphone bill because of a rate hike adopted by the Public Utility Commission in July.

As state regulators and the companies that power the grid take steps to avoid another catastrophe like February’s winter storm, climate experts say this winter will likely be milder.

The state Public Utility Commission adopted a rule — which experts first recommended a decade ago following a winter storm — requiring power companies to use “best efforts” to ensure plants can operate in the winter.

The board overseeing the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, the independent nonprofit entity that operates and manages the electricity grid that covers much of Texas, named former executive Brad Jones on Tuesday to be interim president and CEO.

Several bills responding to Texas’ February power outages — including one mandating that power plants prepare facilities for extreme weather and another reforming the Electric Reliability Council of Texas board — were advanced by the Texas House State Affairs Committee on Thursday. The bill to mandate weatherization of power plants, House Bill 11, would give authority to the Public Utility Commission of Texas, which regulates the electric industry, to develop and enforce standards to prepare power plants for extreme weather. AdThe power outages last month began largely due to power plants tripping offline in extreme cold temperatures — most plants in Texas are not built to withstand such conditions. House Bill 12 would direct a study and implementation of a statewide emergency alert system for power outages. The body would maintain records of facilities critical to maintaining fuel service to power plants during emergencies.

Texas Sen. José Menéndez said Wednesday the state’s energy market needs to be addressed by the legislature after the state’s power grid overcharged power companies by $16 billion during the winter storm. In an interview with the Texas Tribune about the winter storm, Menéndez applauded Gov. Menéndez also blamed the Public Utility Commission of Texas, which oversees ERCOT, for refusing to correct the mistake. Ad“I was extremely disappointed with the PUC for not having the backs of the ratepayers of Texas,” Menéndez said. “The problem is not so much whether we’re deregulated or regulated ... the reality is the market for energy is broken,” Menéndez said.

The Public Utility Commission of Texas will have an open meeting on Friday morning to discuss the Electric Reliability Council of Texas and other topics related to electricity and water following last month’s deadly winter storm. The PUC meeting is scheduled to take place at 9:30 a.m. According to PUC, the meeting will touch on electric reliability, the electric market development, ERCOT oversight, cost recovery in areas outside of ERCOT, and electric reliability standards and organizations arising under federal law. According to Potomac Economics, an independent market monitor for the PUC, ERCOT kept the price of power too high after the outages ended. His outrage has not extended to the state’s PUC, which oversees ERCOT and is led by Abbott appointees.

Bill Magness, CEO of ERCOT, listens to proceedings at the State Capitol in Austin, Texas, on Feb. 26, 2021. Bill Magness, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas CEO who was terminated by his board Wednesday, said he will not seek or accept severance pay, according to a spokesperson. According to the terms of his employment contract, his severance pay would have been equivalent to one year of his current base salary, which is more than $800,000. Magness, who endured more than five hours of questioning by state senators on Thursday, was criticized for the organization’s winter storm preparations. “Fired ERCOT leader refuses more than $800,000 severance pay in storm aftermath” was first published at https://www.texastribune.org/2021/03/04/Texas-ercot-leader-bill-magness-fired-severance-pay/ by The Texas Tribune.

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. That decision to keep prices high, the market monitor described, resulted in $16 billion in additional costs to Texas power companies. AdIn Texas, wholesale power prices are determined by supply and demand — when demand is high, ERCOT allows prices to go up. Companies then buy power from the wholesale market to deliver to consumers, which they are contractually obligated to do. Because ERCOT failed to bring prices back down on time, that meanings companies had to buy power in the market at inflated prices.

Governor Greg Abbott has named Arthur D’Andrea chair of the Public Utility Commission of Texas. Credit: Texas Public Utility CommissionGov. Greg Abbott on Wednesday promoted Arthur D’Andrea to chair the state’s utility regulator, replacing the Public Utility Commission leader who resigned earlier this week following widespread power outages in February. The governor appoints commissioners to lead the PUC, which oversees the state’s grid operator, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas. Abbott can now choose who he’d like to join D’Andrea and Commissioner Shelly Botkin, who Abbott appointed to the PUC in 2018.

Public Utility Commission Chair DeAnn Walker. Credit: Texas Public Utility CommissionThe chairwoman of the Public Utility Commission of Texas, the agency that regulates the state’s electric, telecommunication, and water and sewer utilities, resigned Monday, according to a resignation letter provided to the Texas Tribune. The Governor Greg Abbott-appointed commissioners came under public criticism in the aftermath of Texas’ power crisis that left millions of people in the dark for days and claimed the lives of dozens. Dan Patrick called for PUC chairwoman DeAnn Walker and Electric Reliability Council of Texas CEO Bill Magness to resign. Lawmakers probed how much information she had on whether the state’s power system could withstand winter storms, and questioned why she didn’t raise concerns about the possibility of outages sooner.

AUSTIN – The Public Utility Commission of Texas is launching an investigation into the Electric Reliability Council of Texas’ grid failure following the winter storm. DeAnn Walker, chairman of the commission, said the PUC will work to discover why the power failure happened and will work to help protect electricity customers. AdThese “volunteer” REPs are required to charge a competitive rate, rather than the higher so-called “POLR rate.” The changes include:Extending the registration deadline for REPs willing to serve as volunteer providers in order to expand the pool of available providers. “This week’s weather and associated grid crisis were a nightmare for millions of Texas,” Gleeson said. Customers transitioned to a volunteer provider should contact the new provider to ensure they are on a plan that suits their budget.”Related: President Biden partially approves Gov.

More than a million Texas households are in rural areas where network phone service is more expensive to provide, with fewer customers and longer distances between them. Some rural Texans are facing the threat of losing phone and internet service after the state recently slashed subsidies that help providers offer service in sparsely populated areas. More than a million Texas households are in rural areas where network phone service is more expensive to provide, with fewer customers and longer distances between them. Normally, the state reimburses telecommunication companies for providing service in these areas through the Texas Universal Service Fund. “Oil and gas, agriculture, timber — all of that begins in a location in rural Texas.