Houston Chronicle by Jeremy Wallace 3/25/2021
Texas Senate passes first bill to overhaul Public Utility Commission after deadly outages
More than a month after the deadly storms that crippled the state’s electric grid, lawmakers passed their first major reforms of the state’s top utility regulator and promised more changes to come.
The Texas Senate voted 30-0 on Thursday to overhaul the Public Utility Commission, expanding its board from three to five members and guaranteeing that at least three of them are not from the electricity industry to assure more viewpoints are being taken into account when they make decisions, particularly in an emergency.
That move comes as the Senate races to pass another bill as early as next week that would give the revamped PUC new teeth, including the ability to fine power companies up to $1 million for not weatherizing power plants and transmission lines. That same bill would also allow the Texas Railroad Commission to fine natural gas producers up to $1 million for failing to weatherize properly.
Both power plants and natural gas providers failed to winterize their facilities despite past failures and recommended fixes dating back a decade. State health officials have attributed 111 deaths to last month’s freeze, many caused by hypothermia, according to preliminary data released Thursday.
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https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas/article/Texas-Senate-passes-first-bill-to-overhaul-Public-16054237.php
