Texas Power Operator Overcharged $16B During Storm

The Texas Tribune reports:

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas made a $16 billion error in pricing during the week of the winter storm that caused power outages across the state, according to a filing by its market monitor.

Potomac Economics, the independent market monitor for the Public Utility Commission of Texas, which oversees ERCOT, wrote in a letter to the Public Utility Commission that ERCOT kept market prices for power too high for nearly two days after widespread outages ended late the night of Feb. 17. It should have reset the prices the following day.

That decision to keep prices high, the market monitor claimed, resulted in $16 billion in additional costs to Texas power companies.

Read the full article. Many heads have rolled in the wake of the blackouts, including the CEO of ERCOT.

ERCOT overcharged power companies $16 billion for electricity during winter freeze, firm says @TexasTribune https://t.co/cVNjLRB51q

— KHOU 11 News Houston (@KHOU) March 4, 2021