(Reuters) – Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick called on power grid operator Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) on Monday to correct a $16 billion pricing error during the week of a winter storm that led to power outages across the state.
Potomac Economics, the independent market monitor for Texas power regulator the Public Utility Commission, said last week that ERCOT made a $16 billion pricing error as it kept market prices charged to electricity providers too high for more than a day after widespread outages ended late on Feb. 17.
“Correcting this $16 billion error will require an adjustment, but it is the right thing to do,” Patrick said in a statement on Monday. “It will ultimately benefit consumers and is one important step we can take now to begin to fix what went wrong in the storm.”
The Public Utility Commission, which oversees ERCOT, on Friday unanimously vetoed a request to cut about $16 billion from state power charges during the final day of the February cold snap, saying even a partial repricing could have unintended effects.
ERCOT’s board ousted its chief executive, Bill Magness, last week as fallout continued from a blackout that left residents without heat, power or water for days.
The mid-February storm temporarily knocked out up to half the state’s generating plants, triggering outages that killed dozens and pushed power prices to 10 times the normal rate.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Leslie Adler)
