Houston Chronicle by L.M. Sixel June 9, 2020
The Texas Supreme Court has agreed to review a lower court’s ruling that the state power grid manager is entitled to sovereign immunity, a well-established legal principle that protects governments and their agencies from lawsuits.
The review, announced last week, is a win for electricity generator Panda Power. The Dallas company sued the Electric Reliability Council of Texas four years ago, alleging that the grid manager manipulated the state’s power needs to encourage new power plant construction to relieve political pressure building in Texas. Panda Power built three power plants and invested billions of dollars based on ERCOT projections that Texas desperately needed more generation to meet growing power demands.
But ERCOT, a private nonprofit corporation, argued that it needs immunity from lawsuits because it is funded by transaction fees paid by power generators and a verdict ordering it to pay sizable damages would force it to spread the cost among generators, which in turn, would pass it on in the form of higher electricity prices.
ERCOT is the only grid manager in the nation with sovereign immunity.
More:
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/energy/article/Supreme-Court-will-review-ERCOT-s-immunity-from-15326069.php
