A terrible and tragic thing occurred in Texas over the course of the last few weeks, and the Lone Star State’s lawmakers are eager to get to the bottom of it.
As Winter Storm Uri approached from the west, Texas power companies began to fear for the worst. They believed that the unusually cold temperatures could put an enormous strain on the power grid itself, and they instituted a number of protocols to enact rolling blackouts that were intended to stave of an energy disaster.
As we all know, that didn’t work at all, and now over two dozen Texans are dead.
This has prompted a massive investigation by state legislators
Texas state legislators on Thursday begin digging into the causes of deadly power blackouts that left millions shivering in the dark as frigid temperatures caught its grid operator and utilities ill-prepared for skyrocketing power demand.
Hearings are expected to highlight that shortcomings by grid planners, electric utility and natural gas transmission operators led to billions of dollars in damages and dozens of deaths. Consumer advocates have called for more stringent regulation of utilities and a review of retail marketing plans.
Up to 48% of the state’s power generation was offline at times last week. Utilities were ordered to cut power to prevent a larger catastrophe, Bill Magness, chief executive of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), the state’s grid operator, said on Wednesday.
The Governor was in favor of these investigations as well.
Governor Greg Abbott on Wednesday said public anger was justified and pledged proposals to increase power supplies and to protect those residents hit with enormous power bills. He blamed ERCOT, saying it should have acted faster to prevent generators from falling offline.
Politicians in the state have declared that the current legislative session in the Texas state house will not go into recess until the investigation is resolved.
