Texas power grid reform moves forward with PUC blueprint

AUSTIN, Texas - A replica of a utility power line featuring pieces of paper attached to each string was shown at the Public Utility Commission meeting Thursday. Those papers represented icicles, each with a name collected by the Sierra Club of someone demanding a fair rebuild of the Texas power grid.

Several spoke out during the public comment period, including Stephanie Thomas who said "And I’m angry today, I feel like as a Texan I have paid enough."

Some want meetings to be held in different regions of the state. "The public needs more time to review and comment on the plan which has been proposed only a few days ago," said Susanna Carranza.

Many are worried the reforms put in place by the PUC will eventually be handed down to customers. "We need y’all to come up with solutions for our energy grid that don’t force us to put more money as consumers into the pockets of the same gas and coal companies that failed us in February," said Emma Pabst.

The Public Utility Commission didn't pause. Chairman Peter Lake and the commissioners moved forward with developing what it calls a blueprint to reforming the power grid.

"The market redesign blueprint, that was published by staff on December 6th and you all have all seen is based on reliability and accountability," said Lake.

The change, according to Lake, will focus on all types of power generation. "And when we say reliable and dispatchable, I think it’s fair for all of us, we mean more than just thermal, we mean batteries renewable partnered with batteries, hydrogen, hydro generation, biomass and most importantly acceptable demand response," said Lake.

The PUC no longer wants to reward power generators for ramping up during a crisis when prices are high. The goal is to provide an incentive to prepare for a crisis. There are two parts to that.

Phase 1, which is to happen by January 1, involves:

• incentivizing more generation up front.
• incentivizing extra winter fuel supplies 
• enhancing energy efficiency and conservation programs, which are typically managed by local utilities

Phase 2 remains a work in progress. The focus is on load generation and creating what’s called a backstop.

That backstop involves building a power reserve dedicated to a crisis response. The utility commissioners admit determining the cost to customers and providers remains unknown. Their rebuild was compared to designing a new car. A price tag comes when the design is done.

"I am not sitting here saying I support it 100% because I don’t know, I still don’t have the analytical under pinning’s of anything, to say it’s the best for reliability in the state, or it will solve the problems that we need, to solve for reliability," said Commissioner Jimmy Glotfelty.

Grid managers with ERCOT were directed to start crunching numbers. A report addressing some unknowns is expected by the middle of February. That would be around the year anniversary of the storm the broke the grid.

This blueprint comes after the PUC set weatherization rules. Earlier this month the agency issued nearly $8-million in fines to 8 power companies that missed a December 1 deadline to file reports on what they are doing to stay online.

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