Texas Tribune by Mitchell Ferman July 13, 2021
Officials in charge of Texas' power grid try to reassure lawmakers and the public that they're fixing lingering problems
Lawmakers cannot pass laws to improve Texas’ power grid during the special legislative session. They’re discussing it anyway.Gov. Greg Abbott did not include improving Texas’ main power grid in his 11-item agenda for the special legislative session that began earlier this month, so lawmakers cannot pass new grid-related laws.
That didn’t stop a Senate committee from calling the state’s top electricity and utility regulators to the Capitol Tuesday morning to discuss the state of the power grid following unexpected power plant outages in June, lingering issues with the state’s energy infrastructure from February’s deadly winter storm and plans to implement legislation that lawmakers approved in the spring during the regular legislative session.
Tuesday’s hearing was more of a status update on the power grid, but it was the first public opportunity for lawmakers to question the grid operator’s interim president, Brad Jones, and the three-member board of the Public Utility Commission, which oversees Jones and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas. All four regulators replaced officials ousted after the winter storm that crippled the grid for days during subfreezing weather.
More:
https://www.texastribune.org/2021/07/13/texas-power-grid-ercot-puc-hearing/
