Senate passes bill to force regulators to reprice energy sold during Texas freeze

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Houston Chronicle by Taylor Goldenstein 3/15/2021

In the intensifying clash between Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick over whether to reverse billions of dollars in power overcharges, the Senate leader on Monday pushed through a bill on the matter over the governor’s objections.

Patrick and a majority of senators have said the the prices can and should be retroactively brought down, while Abbott and the state’s grid operator, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, say the decision to leave prices high was a strategic one meant to incentivize generators to continue sending power to the grid.

Arthur D’Andrea, chair of the Public Utility Commission, which oversees ERCOT, has said he does not think his agency has the authority to reprice and has expressed concerns that doing so would prompt expensive lawsuits for the state. Abbott has backed his appointee, saying in a letter Friday that “the only entity that can authorize the solution you want is the Legislature itself.”

More: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas/article/New-bill-would-force-regulators-to-reprice-energy-16026977.php

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“the only entity that can authorize the solution you want is the Legislature itself.”

That applies to most of the problems during the freeze.

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Texas Senate scrambles to advance bill that would force ERCOT to reprice energy charges from winter storm
https://www.texastribune.org/2021/03/15/ERCOT-winter-storm-pricing/

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick hastily convened a session of the Texas Senate on Monday as members suspended their own rules and took highly unusual steps to immediately push through a bill that would force the state’s utility regulator to reverse billions of dollars in charges for wholesale electricity during last month's winter storm.

Senate Bill 2142, sponsored by state Sen. Bryan Hughes, R-Mineola, had not even been filed when the day started Monday — and the full Senate hadn’t been scheduled to convene. But by 2 p.m., it had been read on the Senate floor, approved in a last-minute committee meeting that featured no public comment and then passed by the full Senate on a 27-3 vote.

Thanks to that extraordinary pace, it became the first bill that either chamber of the Legislature had passed since convening Jan. 12. It will now head to the House, where its fate is currently uncertain....