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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?
4 days and 3 night of no electricity service. Our house is complete electric. We had to pack in the dark and go to nearest hotel that wasn’t already full because our house was 40 plus degrees. Our food is spoiled in the refrigerator and freezer. We had to buy food. We had no where to cook. We are not rich. We felt homeless because nearly all of our Dallas Texas family were in the same situation. It was truly sad
We lost food in our refrigerator and our hot water heater went out I guess fe all the surges we were out ove 70plus hours :( we just called and paid for a new water heater 1,000.00 we are out now ?
Electricity was out for 70plus hours’
My son suffered multiple asthma attacks because of the cold weather and no electricity. On top
Of that, my daughter was sick, running a fever and I had no means to keep her comfortable. Our pipes busted, we had to leave our home and beg a friend to let us use part of their hotel room to keep from freezing. Now we have to deal with the damage of our home.
So sorry ??You went through that !
My twin boys were so cold I had to burn furniture in the fire place for warmth because one of my kids shot down and was not responding. Still traumatized
ERCOT has blood on their hands! Someone should be sent to prison for this criminal behavior. The choice of not having enough energy because it cost too much? Ask a family that lost of loved one to put a price on heat when its 13 degrees outside. Anyone involved in these decisions is a murderer in my mind, We had no power for 3 days in record cold and fortunately we made it through. We are the energy capital! Get rid of Ercot and Centerpoint!
The CEO makes roughly 880k a year! They chose not to pay for winterizing the system and I’m assuming it’s because they thought it was worth the risk since it might never happen. They chose to use the budget for their own salaries rather than do what was necessary to protect the public. They are a NON PROFIT! Falsely going under this program to be exempt from taxes and make money off consumers. Their is a database I use for work that is to show every single metric where each and every non profit’s money goes and ERCOTs is blank and empty. This is corrupt, this is despicable, and we need to demand they be held accountable. People are dead. Millions have lost thousands of dollars worth of personal belongings each.
We live In Tuscola TX. We lost powe for almost 48 1/2 hours. I called AEP and all you got was a recording stating blackouts are occurring and they should last 45 minutes to 2 hours. You couldn’t speak with anyone. I have 2 neighbors who had power every 2 hours for 2 hours and then it would shut off for 2 hours. They are with Taylor County COOP. They said Taylor County COOP informed them this is how the blackouts would occur. My provider told me nothing. The water got turned on 2 days ago but we don’t have water probably because of frozen pipes because we couldn’t warm our house. My mother is 78 years old and lives 10 minutes away from me and she had the same situation. Along with no water we lost food to spoilage. This was totally unacceptable and I don’t believe AEP was to totally blame. I talked to my insurance company and they said I am responsible for my deductible which is $2900 because it was a natural disaster. I told them the winter storm was a natural disaster but what caused my pipes to freeze was caused by a human. I don’t expect my insurance company to pay my deductible. I believe the company who caused the blackout to be responsible. If they would have done a real rolling blackout they should have spread it through every household for 8 hours and informed everyone of this. This way everyone would have been prepared and our community would have been prepared and probably ok with that. Unfortunately due to the arrogant attitude they didn’t. People died, pets died, people spent days in dangerous cold conditions without heat, water and food. I guarantee you none of the employees of these utilities companies and ERCOT lost electricity. I have talked to many people who live in the community who aren’t employees of utility companies who never losspower either. So this wasn’t a true rolling blackout. We were lied to. This is a total disrespect for human beings and people should be held accountable and they should also lose their jobs.
We had no power my fur baby and I had to warm up in car while my hubby struggled to go to work (essential ) . We’re on our way to daughter home when they had no power we had our again for several hours then it was back off again my daughter and hubby and two small children had to driven further in unsafe conditions to my brothers just to keep the babies warm and save what little food they had we to agree sue this crap company lives lost people homes destroyed food spoiled our lives were not taken into consideration now some are going without food cause it’s spoiled everywhere maybe you all should buy helicopters and food and water and bring it down to all country’s and put up the cash to personally fix people’s homes give Texans a huge break on electric bill ( as in not having to pay this month and half of next month)because we are Texas . Everything is bigger in Texas. We need dairy products due to it spoiled milk eggs bread water for drinking formula baby water homes fixed what is your company going to do ? Besides getting sued.
My pipes have busted. i couldnt use my daughters breathing machine for 3 days. we didnt get power from monday 3am til wensday 12am. im a mom of two. my cat is probably dying because i couldnt keep him warm enough.
A year in isolation waiting for vaccines, so close to getting them for my grandmother and mother who are the two most at risk folks in our home and that was all shattered due to Ercots negligence when we had to abandon our home and go to a friends house which was crowded with other people in the same situation as us. My grandmother almost died and my mother was looking really bad too i was basically presented with the choice of risk covid or lose them now and all of our food spoiled what a terrible situation people on our street died.
As a veteran i am beyond angry….
My family suffered miserable, we were out of power for over 3 days, then the power will come on for 30 minutes. Trying to keep my 76 year old farther in law comfortable & something to eat. My brother in law gasping for air unable too take his breathing treatment. We we’re forced to make a homemade toilet in a bucket. Because the pipes we’re frozen. Living as if we we’re in a third world country. The state of Texas as well as Ercot was negligent & need too be held accountable
76 hours without power in Texas and under a water boil but no electricity to boil water. This should never have happened. 19 degrees in my house for days is not acceptable! I am ready to sue