Gov. Abbott to Blame for Billions in High Electric Prices, Former Grid CEO Says

It ’s Texas Governor Greg Abbott ’s faulting that power cost during the state ’s deadly 2021 wintertime storm shot through the roof even as the crisis was stop , a former top official with the State Department ’s ability grid evidence Wednesday . This claim contradicts the official crease from the governor ’s situation , which has maintained that Abbott had nothing to do with the conclusion that be ratepayer zillion of dollars .

Bill Magness , the former President and CEO of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas ( ERCOT ) , which incline the Department of State ’s power grid , took the stand this weekin bankruptcy court as part of a hearing bring by Brazos Electric , an galvanic carbon monoxide - op based in Waco . At the nub of the mess is a key determination made by ERCOT during last year ’s historical wintertime storm to keep electrical energy prices high , even as outages were ending across the nation , for more than a Clarence Shepard Day Jr. after things start up to revert to normal .

That move in the end cost great power providers an extra $ 16 billion in costs ; Brazos , for its part , is claiming that the decision cost it $ 1.9 billion alone , which dragged it into bankruptcy . ( exponent company , of course , are n’t the only I who got the scant end of the control stick in this move . Some customers alsosaw astronomical major power bills postdate the storm . )

Photo: Eric Gay (AP)

After last year ’s deadly tempest left millions of Texans without heat for days and exposed enormous , underlying trouble with the nation ’s electric grid , ERCOT cleaned menage . While some of the organization ’s official went gracefully , Magness dug in , defending ERCOT ’s conclusion to selectively cut power for some customer during the frigid walkover before ultimatelybeing given the charge by the board .

But Magness ’s testimony on Wednesday shed new lightness on how those fated days may have really go down . During the terminal daylight of the tempest in mid - February , power prices were capped at more than 150 times normal at $ 9,000 per megawatt hour . Magness is now say that the decision to keep those rates even as power plant life were occur back online came from the governor . He attest that the now former Public Utility Commission Chairwoman narrate him that “ the governor had conveyed to her if we come forth from rotating outage it was imperative they not resume . We want to do what we need to do to make it happen . ”

The decision to keep prices high in the final mean solar day of the crisis , Magness said , was an attempt by the PUC to encourage power plants to number back online and to keep big top executive users like industrial facilities offline , for conserve emergency power reserve . However , the move to keep cost so high for so long and the enormous leave price to the organization has been wide criticized by watchdogs as ill - advised and outdo the scope of the Commission ’s power — and , it seems , no one wants to abuse up to the plate to take the inculpation . ( By the way , big out - of - state banks , include Bank of America , Morgan Stanley , and Goldman Sachs did profit from the high-sounding prices , and werecaught on a register call last yearwith a former Public Utility Commission employee who assured them he was working to assist them keep their profit . )

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At a meeting last class on ERCOT ’s role in the mess , a voice for Abbott said the regulator ’s part hadnothing to do with the determination — despite an aide from Abbott ’s government agency being at ERCOT central office at the time the decision to keep Mary Leontyne Price in high spirits was made .

“ As Texans would expect , Governor Abbott instructed everyone involved that they must do what was needed to keep the power on and to prevent the red of life , ” a spokesperson for Abbott differentiate the Houston Chronicle Wednesday . “ This is the same command Governor Abbott chip in to the PUC and ERCOT ( during a cold snap ) earlier this twelvemonth : Do what needs to be done to keep the major power on . ”

Democratic candidate Beto O’Rourke , an opponent for Abbott in Texas ’ coming gubernatorial election has long been run on the political science ’s loser during the dimout . O’Rourkereleasedseveraltweetsblasting Abbott ’s engagement in the determination . give how easy Abbottthrew around falsehoods about wind get-up-and-go ’s role in the blackoutsand hasconsistently overpromisedon thegrid ’s solidity , we would n’t be surprised if he was wangle the true statement when it comes to this too .

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