ERCOT, PUC discuss operational changes to Texas power grid ahead of hottest days of summer

[thackney]

ERCOT, PUC discuss operational changes to Texas power grid ahead of hottest days of summer
https://www.click2houston.com/news/local/2021/07/22/ercot-puc-to-discuss-operational-changes-to-texas-power-grid/

...The Electric Reliability Council of Texas and Public Utility Commission held a 10 a.m. conference where PUC Chairman Peter Lake and ERCOT Interim President/CEO Brad Jones discussed the upcoming changes their organizations are making.

Over the past several months, the grid has come into question since February’s winter storm where millions of Texans were left without electricity. In May, ERCOT announced the state is expected to reach a new record for electricity demand this summer. ERCOT reported Texans are expected to hit a peak demand of 77,143 MW this summer, which outpaces the previous record of 74,820 set in 2019. For comparison, 1 MW equals 200 homes.

Lake said the three key things are stabilizing the grid for summer, redesigning the market for the future and setting expectations for the remainder of the summer....

[thackney]

Expect more conservation notices as ERCOT, PUC announce plans to overhaul Texas electricity market
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/energy/article/PUC-ERCOT-announce-plans-to-overhaul-electricity-16332551.php
July 22, 2021

...But, they said, ERCOT will need to continue to ask Texans to conserve energy at times, especially as the state heads into the hottest part of summer in the coming weeks.

In a joint press conference, PUC Chairman Peter Lake and interim ERCOT CEO Brad Jones said they don't yet know what the redesigned market will look like or how it will work, but that it will move away from the current crisis model that pays generators much more when grid conditions are tight and less when conditions are stable.

"By no fault of their own, private companies can only generate revenue as Texas gets closer and closer to the edge. That not a good way to run a reliable grid," Lake said. "The market needs and will receive a major overhaul."...

[IsailedawayfromFR]

Expect more conservation notices as ERCOT, PUC announce plans to overhaul Texas electricity market
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/energy/article/PUC-ERCOT-announce-plans-to-overhaul-electricity-16332551.php
July 22, 2021

"By no fault of their own, private companies can only generate revenue as Texas gets closer and closer to the edge. That not a good way to run a reliable grid," Lake said. "The market needs and will receive a major overhaul."...

I wonder how that squares with my electric bill which ups the $/kwh in tranches as I use more electricity?

[thackney]

I wonder how that squares with my electric bill which ups the $/kwh in tranches as I use more electricity?

Not related at all.  In Texas, generation is a separate entity and they are competing against each other constantly.

private companies can only generate revenue as Texas gets closer and closer to the edge

That sentence is wrong.  They should have wrote profit, not income.  And I think that is overstated.  They earn significant profit as that price moves up.  That is the entire reason Nat Gas Peakers and now battery systems exist: the high price at the daily peak versus the average and low price of night.