Fox 4: Oncor requests nearly $100 million in rate hikes
April 27 — “Cities are looking after residential and commercial rate payers. It is the cities who protect rate payers to greatest degree,” said Don Knight, Dallas city attorney.
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Texas Public Media: ERCOT Hires Interim CEO And President As Major Grid Reforms Stall In Legislature
April 28 — ERCOT doesn’t have the power to mandate major changes. That’s the job of the Public Utility Commission (PUC), which oversees ERCOT and regulates the grid, as well as the Railroad Commission, which regulates the natural gas sector. The Texas legislature oversees all of the organizations, and its efforts to mandate weatherization have stalled.
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Texas Tribune: Wind power a smaller contributor to Texas electricity crisis than initially estimated, ERCOT analysis shows
April 28 — An updated analysis of the Texas power crisis shows lost natural gas power generation was the most significant component of the February outages.
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S&P Global: Wall Street response muted as Vistra blames gas system for $1.6B impact
April 26 — Vistra Corp.’s stock fell slightly on April 26 as management blamed financial losses on a natural gas infrastructure system that buckledunexpectedly during February’s deadly winter storm in Texas.
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NBC DFW: ERCOT Board of Directors Selects Interim President
April 27 — In addition to that work, Jones has served as president and CEO of the New York Independent System Operations, chairman of the Edison Electric Institute’s Executive Advisory Committee and a board member for the Gulf Coast Power Association.
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Austin Monitor: Gas companies seek interim rate hikes
April 23 — The three companies that supply natural gas to Austin residential and commercial customers are each seeking a rate increase under the Gas Reliability Infrastructure Program, or GRIP. City Council acted on April 8 and again on Thursday to temporarily suspend implementation of those increases. However, the increases are likely to take effect after a short period of review because of the way the utility law is written.
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Reuters: Starwood Energy proposes $8 bln investment in Texas power infrastructure
April 23 — Investment firm Starwood Energy Group on Friday proposed spending $8 billion to build 11 natural-gas fired power plants in Texas, the company said, a plan that would compete with a similar proposal from Berkshire Hathaway
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Houston Chronicle: All-night ERCOT meeting raises questions about Abbott’s role in power pricing debacle
April 23 — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott dispatched a top aide to the ERCOT operations center on the night the grid operator made the controversial decision to leave electricity prices at maximum levels — a move blamed for creating a multi-billion dollar mess.
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Orange Leader (Commentary): Texas Senate passes bill reforming the ERCOT board
April 24 — One particular sticking point was there was no requirement for ERCOT board members to live in the state. This bill would require the presiding officer, the counsellor, and every other member of the board are Texas residents.
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WFAA: ‘It’s all connected’: How February’s power outages knocked out natural gas wells
April 22 — When the February winter storms hit Midland, Joe Brosig of Double Eagle Energy says his company did all it could to “winterize” its wells in order to keep running in the freezing cold.
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ERO Insider: Texas RE Asks for 20% Budget Increase
April 23 — The Texas RE’s Board discussed a request for a 20% budget increase to cover additional staff and costs for new office space.