Tipsheet

Texas Governor to ERCOT: We're Going to Investigate Your Failure in Powering the State During Winter Storm

Matt Vespa
Matt Vespa  |  February 17, 2021 10:30 AM

As millions deal with the deep freeze that struck Texas, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, ERCOT, which oversees the majority of the state’s power grid is coming under fire. They have yet to restore power to scores of people dealing with the extreme cold. A massive winter storm rolled into the state over the Presidents’ Day weekend. For the first time, Texas issued a statewide winter storm warning.

The drop in temperatures caused wind turbines to freeze up. The state’s clean energy shift and heavy subsidization of it appear to be exposing some huge flaws in the infrastructure here: it cannot keep up with demand. If a winter storm causes the large swaths of the state to literally switch off—what’s the point. Yet, this is what these green freaks want us to endure. Can’t heat your home—too bad. Now, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is calling for some heads to roll at ERCOT and investigations into this catastrophe (via KXAN NBC):


Texas Governor Greg Abbott is calling on the state legislature to investigate the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) after millions of Texans were left with no power for days during record-breaking cold temperatures.

The move comes as Abbott declared reform of the council, which manages power flow in the state, an emergency item for the current legislative session. House Speaker Dade Phelan requested a joint hearing between the chamber’s State Affairs and Energy Resources committees to “cut through the finger-pointing and hear directly from stakeholders.”

“It’s not just this ‘once in a lifetime event,’ it’s the fact that we have not invested in resiliency and not required it to the extent we should have from the generation system and the grid operator,” State Rep. Rafael Anchía, D-Dallas, who serves on the energy resources committee, said in a phone call Tuesday.

Later Tuesday, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, the presiding officer of the Texas Senate, said the Senate Business & Commerce committee will hold hearings on the winter weather power outages in Texas.

Governor Greg Abbott is calling on Electric Reliability Council of Texas leadership to step down after the ongoing winter storm nearly maxed the state’s electric grid, leaving millions of Texans without power for days.

It’s a bad policy that came to a head under a bad winter storm. Friends in Texas, please stay safe.