Following the freeze, the Legislature ordered the PUC to overhaul the market, and everyone is scrambling to tilt the field in their favor. The latest fight began when the PUC advertised for a consulting firm “to assist in the analysis, development and implementation” of a new market.
Last year, experts at Potomac declared that former PUC Chair DeAnn Walker and ERCOT CEO Bill Magness violated market rules when they artificially kept wholesale prices at $9,000 a megawatt-hour for too long during the blackout, even though prices would have been $1,200 under market rules. Potomac said the decision wrongfully stuck
State procurement rules say companies “may also be disqualified if there are facts that would create an appearance of impropriety, even if no actual conflict exists.” But PUC spokesman Rich Parsons says the agency “is the sole arbiter of whether a conflict or an appearance of impropriety exists.” E3 did not reply to an email seeking comment.