State House OKS reforms to grid.
Legislation aimed at avoiding future paralyzing events
Measures aimed at shoring up the Texas electric grid in the aftermath of a February storm, which left millions of Texans in the dark and desperately cold, flew through the Texas House on Tuesday.
The legislation, aimed at addressing a calamity that left more than 110 Texans dead, saw widespread support with lawmakers from both political parties keen to show constituents they’re tackling the problem.
The measures would:
• Overhaul the board of the electric grid operator to give state officials a greater say in its makeup and require that board members live in Texas. ( Five of the 15 board members at the time of the storms did not live in Texas.)
• Require that power generators and transmission companies prepare their facilities for “extreme weather emergencies” and enact policies to bring failed generation back online as soon as possible.
• Establish a Texas Energy Disaster Reliability Council to help prevent interruptions in electric service lasting more than 24 hours caused by a disaster.
• Codify better communication among local, state and federal authorities about potential power outages due to disasters.
The bills, authored by Rep. Chris Paddie, R-marshall, chair of the House State Affairs Committee, were developed after almost 30 hours of hearings on the power outages.
“There’s not one silver bullet to improve our electric system,” Paddie said on the House floor. “This continues our work to fix our electric system. We’ve had an efficient system for many years, but it needs some improvements to be resilient.”
Another measure, authored by state Rep. Richard Pea Raymond, D-laredo, establishes a statewide disaster alert system through which the Texas Division of Emergency Management would provide
Texans with up-to-the-minute notifications and vital safety information during disasters, including power outages.
Those measures all passed without a single “nay” vote.
Another bill, by state Rep. Ana Hernandez, D-houston, aimed at prohibiting the sort of wholesale-market-indexed electricity products that left some consumers with astronomically high bills (as high as $17,000 for a six-day period) was approved 111-35.
‘Important first steps’
Apart from finger-pointing, as utilities, regulators, gas suppliers, and transmission companies blamed one another for the energy crisis, the hearings — as well as media coverage of the unfolding February disaster — revealed a deep information gap between utility boardrooms, state grid control rooms and Texans in their darkened living rooms.
“The Texas House today took important first steps in passing critical, essential reforms in the aftermath of Winter Storm Uri,” House Speaker Dade Phelan, Rbeaumont, said in a statement. “The actions taken by the House will help restore confidence in our critical infrastructure after the catastrophic mismanagement of our electric grid last month. The House’s legislative package will reform (the Electric Reliability Council of Texas), ensure the reliability of our grid in extreme weather conditions, defend rate payers, and improve coordination during times of crisis.”
On Monday, the Senate unanimously approved a sweeping proposal to overhaul regulation of the Texas energy industry.
Winterizing equipment
Senate Bill 3 requires all generation, transmission and natural gas facilities and pipelines in the state to weatherize equipment to ensure operation during extreme weather conditions. Companies could face a fine of up to $1 million if they fail to comply with the requirement.
The bill would task the
Public Utility Commission and the Texas Railroad Commission, which regulates the oil and gas industry, with overseeing weatherization requirements by implementing rules for preparedness.
During the February winter storms, equipment froze and stopped working, and it was clear that key infrastructure operators had not sufficiently protected their equipment from the cold and icy conditions. Winterizing power generating facilities in Texas could cost upwards of $400 million, according to some estimates.
House Bill 11, which requires utilities to “implement measures to prepare facilities to maintain service quality and reliability during an extreme weather emergency” doesn’t spell out who will pay for winterization, but a fiscal note attached to the bill by the state Legislative Budget Board says that “it is assumed that the costs associated with the bill’s provisions relating to the extreme weather emergency preparedness of facilities for providing electric service could be absorbed using existing resources.”