Livingston and Jasper residents hope a lawsuit will force their municipality-operated utility company to offer lower rates and create more transparency in setting rates. They’re among the 5 million Texans living outside the state’s deregulated market and cannot choose their energy provider.

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.

The actions by the Public Utility Commission led to billions of dollars of overcharges, the Austin-based court found. It’s not yet clear if the ruling will affect consumers.

The idea, which still lacks some important details and could be changed by state lawmakers, would change how electricity is paid for in tight times. We explain it for everyday Texans.

The substantial change in the way the state’s market works will first be reviewed by the Legislature.

The Public Utility Commission has about 200 employees but needs more to handle shoring up the state power grid and tackling an expanded list of regulatory duties, according to the state Sunset Advisory Commission.

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.

The rate increase will help replenish a state fund to maintain and operate cellphone networks in rural Texas. A court determined the state’s Public Utility Commission needed to restore $200 million in overdue money to the fund.

After last winter’s near-statewide electric blackouts, Texas lawmakers went after regulators they deemed responsible but tiptoed around the Texas Railroad Commission, which regulates oil and gas. Now voters have a chance, if they want it, to send the state a message.

Next year’s primary elections start a year after a winter storm knocked out power across Texas — and the government response to that disaster could be on voters’ minds.

The state’s electricity regulators said they’re taking steps to assure a skeptical public that the power won’t go out again if Texas experiences extreme weather this summer.

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) released a new plan Tuesday to address improvements and outline reforms to the Texas Power Grid, according to a news release.

The governor did not include many specifics about how regulators should carry out his requests to improve the state's main power grid.

The Public Utility Commission said the state's main power grid operator will have three days — instead of 60 — to release some information about power plant outages. But that may not include why the electricity generators were offline.

Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday named Peter Lake the new chair of the Texas Public Utility Commission, the public board that regulates the state’s power grid operators and saw all three of its members resign in the wake of February’s deadly winter storm.

Lawmakers are trying to prevent another power grid failure like the one that occurred during last month’s deadly winter storm. (Credit: Jordan Vonderhaar for The Texas Tribune)Both the Texas Senate and House have written bills that attempt to prevent another massive power failure in extreme temperatures. House Bill 11, sponsored by State Rep. Chris Paddie, R-Marshall, was part of a package of bills that the lower chamber preliminarily approved Tuesday. “It doesn’t go far enough to truly protect Texans from the next winter weather calamity,” Jacoby said during a committee hearing on the bill on March 18. “Under this definition of an extreme weather emergency, these mandates would not apply,” Jacoby said during the committee meeting.

Patrick leads the Texas Senate and has been pushing legislation that would retroactively adjust prices for wholesale electricity after massive power outages last month. Greg Abbott to take executive action on reversing billions of dollars in charges for wholesale electricity during last month’s deadly winter storm after the Texas House adjourned for the week without taking up the issue. Ad“The governor of Texas is a very powerful person,” Patrick said at a Capitol news conference, ramping up his dayslong campaign to get Abbott to intervene. And, while the bill was referred to a House committee Thursday morning, the House gaveled out until Monday afternoon. Abbott, whose office had defended D’Andrea on Friday, did not provide a reason for why he had requested D’Andrea’s resignation.

Public Utility Commission Chair Arthur D’Andrea has resigned, Gov. D'Andrea was the only remaining member of the three-seat commission that regulates the state's electric, telecommunication and water and sewer utilities. The other two commissioners, including the chair at the time, DeAnn Walker, had resigned in recent weeks over fallout related to last month's winter storm. "Tonight, I asked for and accepted the resignation of PUC Commissioner Arthur D’Andrea," the governor said in a statement, adding that he plans to name "a replacement in the coming days who will have the responsibility of charting a new and fresh course for the agency." “Texans deserve to have trust and confidence in the Public Utility Commission, and this action is one of many steps that will be taken to achieve that goal,” Abbott said.

Greg Abbott has worked to lay blame squarely on the state’s electrical-grid operator — despite the fact that it is overseen by the Abbott-appointed Public Utility Commission. Last week, Patrick called for the resignation of the PUC chair at the time, DeAnn Walker — and hours later, she called it quits. In a Friday evening statement, Patrick called on Abbott to “intercede” and replace D’Andrea, daring the governor to abandon his 9-day-old appointee. Abbott had already called on ERCOT leadership to resign but had not said anything about the PUC. AdIn his Friday evening statement, Patrick asked Abbott to “replace Mr. D’Andrea on the PUC when he fills the other two vacancies there.”“Mr.

SAN ANTONIO – CPS Energy on Friday sued the Electric Reliability Council of Texas after an independent monitor for the Public Utility Commission reported the grid managers overcharged power companies during the winter storm. In the lawsuit, CPS Energy accused ERCOT of not paying what it owes to the San Antonio utility. “ERCOT has short paid approximately $2.5 billion to the market participants, and at least $18 million is owed to CPS Energy for the Winter Storm Event,” according to the court filing. “CPS Energy is taking this action to defend its customers. Price charts for the natural gas spot market show natural gas increased nearly two-fold Feb. 11, before spiking Feb. 17.

Credit: Sergio Flores for The Texas Tribune​The state’s energy grid operator overcharged power companies by roughly $3 billion after the winter storm, the chairman of Texas’ utility regulator said Thursday, pushing back on a previous report from an agency watchdog that said the companies were overcharged by $16 billion. But a letter submitted Thursday by Potomac Economics repeated that ERCOT overcharged companies by $16 billion. AdIt is still unclear whether and how this overcharge directly affects Texas electricity customers, however many power companies have taken a significant financial hit. In Texas, wholesale power prices are determined by supply and demand: When demand is high, ERCOT allows prices to go up. During the storm, the PUC directed the grid operator to set wholesale power prices at $9,000 per megawatt-hour — the maximum price.

“I totally get how it looks like you're protecting consumers [by readjusting electric prices],” D’Andrea said Friday during a PUC meeting. In Texas, wholesale power prices are determined by supply and demand: When demand is high, ERCOT allows prices to go up. During the storm, PUC directed the grid operator to set wholesale power prices at $9,000 per megawatt hour — the maximum price. Raising prices is intended to incentivize power generators in the state to add more power to the grid. Companies then buy power from the wholesale market to deliver to consumers, which they are contractually obligated to do.

After the near-collapse of the state’s power grid, seven board members of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas have resigned. Credit: Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas TribuneAnother Electric Reliability Council of Texas board member has resigned after a winter storm caused the near-collapse of the state’s power grid. Clifton Karnei, executive vice president of Brazos Electric Power Cooperative, is the seventh board member of the state’s power grid operator to quit this week. RELATED: Political contributions link ERCOT board to Abbott and the state committee now investigating the troubled entityUnlike Karnei, the other board members who resigned this week reside outside of Texas. “The PUC was non-existent.”The other board members who resigned this week did so at an ERCOT board meeting on Wednesday.

AdFour of the departing board members acknowledged “concerns about out-of-state board leadership" in a letter to grid members and the state's Public Utility Commission, which oversees ERCOT. The board members did not reflect on their own performance in the letter. The other board members are vice chairman Peter Cramton, Terry Bulger and Raymond Hepper. The selection of “unaffiliated” ERCOT board members — like most of those who are resigning — must be approved by the PUC. Hepper also declined comment beyond the resignation letter, and other board members did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Greg Abbott’s list of priorities, the call for broadband internet might be the most popular in the state Legislature. And a related telecommunications dispute at the Public Utility Commission is tied up in court, potentially threatening phone service in some rural areas of the state and with it, access to broadband internet. But those subsidies have been dwindling, which could make it more difficult to get broadband internet service to customers in those areas. The state fund is for phone service — not internet. “To further expand access to high-speed internet and cultivate prosperity for the state, Texas should support the creation of a state broadband plan, authorize a broadband office within the Economic Development and Tourism Office and eliminate barriers to provide greater access to broadband services,” he wrote.

On Oct. 1, Texans who were previously protected by a state program blocking utility disconnections during the coronavirus pandemic, could again be at risk of having their lights shut off because they cant pay their bills. Advocates and users criticized the program for being difficult to register for and being advantageous to utility providers, rather than consumers. Customers will only be required to pay what hasnt already been offset by discounts given to energy providers as a result of the program. Texans receiving unemployment relief are also eligible to register for the program until then. In total, about 3.3 million Texans have applied for unemployment relief benefits since mid-March.

Phone companies and some rural state legislators are asking utility regulators to increase the tax on interstate telecommunications services that fills the Texas Universal Service Fund. TUSF, the high-cost and small and rural programs in particular, is what has given the opportunity for small and rural telecommunications providers to build and maintain the foundational network platform that allows rural Texas to remain connected. Before, but certainly with the current pandemic crisis, these small rural telecommunications carriers have stepped up to help provide the critical services needed as our citizens face a more online environment. By March 2019, the PUC staff wrote, the fund was falling short by $5 million to $7 million per month. The idea in rural Texas was that the hardest-to-reach customers the most expensive ones wouldnt get service at affordable rates and that the fund could subsidize them.