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Texas lawmakers are calling for investigations into the state’s power grid manager and are demanding resignations from some of its top leadership.
As of Wednesday morning approximately 2.7 million households in Texas have woken up without electricity with little answers as to when the lights and the heat can be turned back on.
“Millions of people without power during this arctic blast is life-threatening and unacceptable,” Texas and state senate head Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said in a statement. “We must get to the bottom of this to be sure we are better prepared even if an unprecedented weather event happens again.”
Texas and much of the United States are facing record-low temperatures with the winter storm that rolled through earlier this week.
The severe weather initially left an estimated 4 million homes without power by Tuesday morning, according to the Texas Tribune, killing at least 10.
What Happened to the Texas Power Grid?
The cold front that swept across Texas brought with it two to nine inches of snow and ice, according to The Houston Chronicle.
Unlike other states, Texas power operates its own power grid managed by nonprofit Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), which provides about 90 percent of Texas’ power, Vox reports.
Most of that power comes from natural gas. When the winter storm rolled through, natural gas pipelines were clogged by ice or disabled by losing power, and demand spiked at the same time. Because the Texas grid isn’t linked to a national one, it was unable to import extra power, according to the Washington Post.
Critics, including certain Texas leaders, claim ERCOT wasn’t prepared despite knowing the storm was coming and hasn’t invested enough in weather-proofing infrastructure.
The surge in demand sent wholesale energy prices skyrocketing, triggering ERCOT’s computers to cut off customers to avoid paying the higher prices, according to The Washington Post.
Neither ERCOT nor any of Texas energy providers are facing litigation over the massive outage but Top Class Actions is tracking the story for developments.
Energy Price Spike
On Monday Texas regulators held an emergency meeting to allow ERCOT to change its pricing to reflect the increased demand, KVEO reports.
“Energy prices should reflect scarcity of the supply. If customer load is being shed, scarcity is at its maximum, and the market price for the energy needed to serve that load should also be at its highest,” the regulators said in the order.
KVUEreports there are caps in place to ensure customers aren’t gouged with an exuberant electric bill, but regulators in other parts of the United States have faced legal actions relating to prices.
Utility Lawsuits in the Past
The issue of unregulated, independent electric companies was the subject of a class action lawsuit filed last week in Maryland. The lead plaintiff argued Major Energy Electric Services gouges her with expensive bills and it only happened after the market was deregulated.
Currently, an Ohio utility faces a class action lawsuit from customers alleging a bribery scheme. A judge denied FirstEnergy’s motion to have that complaint dismissed last week. Consumers in that case allege FirstEnergy paid out $1 million dollars to an organization run by an Ohio lawmaker.
Other class action lawsuits have reached settlements.
Xcel Energy, a Colorado natural gas company, agreed to pay out $2.5 million in a complaint alleging the manipulation of gas prices last month.
Consumers claimed the company was publishing false data and practicing so-called “wash trades.”
Also in January, more than 40,000 Australians were represented in a class action targeting two government owned electric utility companies. The lawsuit was filed after Queensland customers saw 90 percent increases in their bills in the last five years.
Southern California Edison faces charges of negligence in the massive wildfire that consumed much of the state starting in 2017. The numerous lawsuits are estimated to cost the utility approximately $6.2 billion in losses.
Southern California Edison has already paid out an estimated $128 million in settlements stemming from the wildfires and mudslides already, according to VC Star.
Are you living in Texas without power? What do you think of ERCOT’s role in the power outages? Let us know in the comments below.
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87 thoughts onWill Texas Grid Manager ERCOT Face Class Actions Over Power Outages?
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You also need to sue power provider Oncor. They cut our power on 1:30 am Monday morning. I found out later they sent a tweet in the middle of the night that they were implementing rolling blackouts. The rolling blackouts were a complete lie!!! They picked neighborhoods and kept them offline for days. The coldest day of the year and we had no power, but across the street a storage warehouse, an empty apartment complex and an empty warehouse had power the whole time. It was so cold areas in our house dropped to 37 degrees inside!!! We were without power for 68 hours. When the Oncor lineman came to restore our neighborhood power he said there was nothing wrong with our equipment. Oncor just pulled the plug on your neighborhood.
Everyone in the neighborhood has busted pipes,, busted water heaters, flooding, water damage. All of this was the direct result of ONCOR. The big LIE that the black outs were rolling. All of the neighborhoods around us had power. We were the only one in the dark.
Add me to. our power was shut off on Monday at 1:30 in the morning by ERCOT and center point Energy by choosing what areas they thought were less important to them we waited and waited for power to come back on for 3 days no food no water no Nothing to keep warm my kids kept crying to make things worse I have no vehicle I think we need to start a class Action lawsuit because they have to be held accountable for there actions babies died, animals died, elderly people died,because of their Careless and negligence and heartless actions someone please start the process
No power for 8 days and still counting. When our home dropped to 52 degrees we decided to find a hotel. They were all booked. I have a 93 year old aunt and my 80 plus year old husband with major health issues. Plus we have a dog. We had to spend another night with no heat. Our home is all electric. Now we are in our 6 th day in a hotel. Over $100 a day. No restaurant in the hotel and because of Covid no breakfast. Can’t go anywhere to get food because everything is closed. Couldn’t go if they were open because of all the ice. There is no excuse for this to happen to anyone. I have no idea how much damage we have at our home because the roads are still to bad to go there. Power is still out as I write this. We have to pay for a place to stay. Pay for repairs. And they want to raise our rates. I don’t think so. They should have been prepared for this to happen.
Haven’t had any power since Saturday evening around 2300. Wife and three dogs with nowhere to go. Stores that had power had been run on, so no food. Then boil notices for water in our county… makes it pretty difficult to boil water when you have no electricity and an electric stove. Now going on 5 days consecutive with no power, not even rolling blackouts. They just shut the lights off and haven’t said anything other than “we don’t know when it’ll be back.”
Bless these linemen working out in the freezing cold trying their hardest. ERCOT must be held responsible because this is been and example of everything BUT responsibility.
We have not had power since February the 12th at 9:02 AM going on our 8th day with no electricity or water,our house is also ran on all electricity unacceptable doesn’t even start to describe the experience we have gone through the past 8 days,I thought this was 2021 not 1803. Water is scarce,we have had a freezer full of food that has gone bad. We have lost work,food and just a sense of normalcy all because of a lack of responsibility from ERCOT, We have a community full of elderly retired people and we have come together trying to help and support each other but after first three days we have no water no bread it has been really exhausting.shame on you ERCOT
I live in Arlington TX with my 86 year old father with dementia & my mother with newly diagnosed heart valve disease we were without power from 5:30am Monday morning till 8:30pm last night as a result of the stress of us having to live in our living room and cook over our gas fireplace my father’s sundowning has gone in overdrive we are facing having to put him in a dementia care facility which I promised him I would not do.
Please add me!! What ERCOT did was unacceptable! We were expecting ROLLING BLACK OUTS & instead they chose who got electricity!!! Stand up for Texas
I’m disabled and both myself and my husband are recouping from COVID. This rolling of power made it worse for us. We are in our mid 60’s.
We are in Kirby Tx 78219.
I am very outraged right now here in Houston Texas me and my dog was without power for three days no water no grocery stores were open to get food know where to get gas to sit in the car and stay warm someone should be accountable people have lost their lives to a tragic death due to this rolling black out The way I said they didn’t care about us our lives are in jeopardy if something needs to be done about it right now and Ercot should be really be taught a lesson on the American people’s value of life I bet they power wasn’t off and knew the storm was coming did nothing to get prepared for it so the way I see it they need to be sued we want justice all of us that suffered through the storm and I hope we get it and I think we should get a national apology to be honest all the people that lost their lives due to this rolling black out how could you look at their love ones in the eyes knowing that you’re the reason why their family members are no longer here due to playing with our power
Please start a class action lawsuit! I have a toddler to protect and feed. Ercot you put my family lives in risk with no where to go. This will be the ONLY WAY they’ll take us serious.
50 hours without power. My husband and I huddled with our two kids in front of a fire for two days and nights to try to keep from freezing to death. We were within two neighborhoods deemed worthy of sacrificing as part of ERCOT’s “controlled outages.” After about 40 hours, we drove to an area we knew had power to try to get some warm food, and I cried all the way home seeing business after business that wasn’t even open with all of their lights on. Why was my family near freezing to death while all around us, every fast food restaurant had power? Why did so many other neighborhoods have power the entire time, but we had none? They talked about rolling blackouts, but some had no power for days and others never lost power! They were selectively choosing whose houses were ok to ruin and who was worth allowing to die to save a dollar. I am furious!