Sign up for The BriefTexas lawmakers and experts who study the state’s power grid aren’t thrilled with a proposal by state energy officials aimed at preventing future widespread outages such as the one during the 2021 winter storm.
The Texas Legislature last year ordered the commission to overhaul the state’s energy market, which functions mostly off of supply and demand, in the wake of the winter storm. Texas’ electrical grid nearly collapsed as ice and snow blanketed the state. Below-freezing temperatures caused the demand for electricity to surge, triggering widespread power outages that left millions of Texans in the dark without heat for several days. Hundreds of people died as a result.
, R-New Braunfels, said during a Thursday hearing of the Senate Business and Commerce Committee, adding that the additional costs of the plan will ultimately be paid by power customers.Senators expressed concerns about making the state’s power customers pay more for an untested system on top of— costs that energy experts have said Texans will be paying off for decades.
But observers and some lawmakers have pointed to what they call flaws in E3’s report, chief among them the fact that the consultant did not take into account weather conditions as severe as those that caused blackouts during last year’s winter storm. Without that, experts say, it’s difficult to know how the grid would hold up during extreme cold or heat as a result of any change — or how much consumers’ energy bills would go up.
But climate change is making weather patterns more erratic, said Silverstein, the former PUC adviser, prompting demand to spike unexpectedly as it did during Uri and this year’s early-arriving heat wave.
All these added EVs are going to overload the grid with the astonishing amount of power they draw in order to charge.
If The TX Grid Fails Like It Did Killing More Than 700 Texans It Will Be Much Worse Due To The Increase In The Population In Texas!
It's not an overhaul. It's an even bigger scam! This is what privatization gets you!
So more money to the people who got us into this. I voted for Beto and this issue was at the top of my list as to why. I wish more like-minded people cared to turnout.
That's not overhauling the grid, it's a crutch, an expensive crutch, in ADDITION to the electric bill AbbottTax for the unforeseeable future. Call it what it is Greg. Now you're looking to 'overhaul the Texas power grid'. So now our grid IS broken but you need more of our $
Wait what?! We’re gonna give them MORE money to ensure they DO SOMETHING?! Hmmmm, why won’t that work for teachers?
chilberg11 Voting matters BetoForever
All of this because gqp doesn't want to connect to national grid
Another Abbott Tax on Texans. Abbott & the GOP-controlled txrrc approved a measure to make Texas renters & homeowners pay (for next 10 yrs) for the massive PRICE-GOUGING ($3.4 BILLIONS worth) by gas companies during the 2021 TexasFreeze. Texas
How is your solar and wind renewables working out?
For those who voted Abbott;Reap It.
So Abbott!
People complain but never seem to offer solutions. How should they fix the TEXAS power grid rn?
So pay the electric companies more tax payer money to fix what they should have done 20 yrs ago. How QAbbott of them
Reminds me of those family members who expect a prize for taking care of their own responsibilities.
That’s not fixing the power grid GovAbbott and TexasGOP - it is charging ratepayers to reward your campaign contributors… ProjectLincoln statesman DallasDailyNews HoustonChron elpasotimes TheTexasDaily ExpressNews monitornews nytimes washingtonpost
And they still voted for Abbot
'they would be paid to ensure'? How about they would fined if they don't?
edhirs 🧐🧐
I don’t buy it either.
How is this an overhaul and by whom? With a plan to pay them extra if they successfully fulfill terms of a monopoly contract they've already signed? Have any of these people ever run an actual business? Including easy, basic ones. Like a lemonade stand. When 8 years old.
That doesn't sound like you're fixing the grid it sounds like you're adding insult to injury with what you already have.
they don't fix the grid because too many people make too much money when it is broken also, 'fixing' the grid will simply make sure those same people continue to make as much money and likely MORE money nothing will change in TX as long as republicans are in power
I don’t believe them
NOPE
Empty vessel makes the most noise