Texas Public Utility Commission Again Fails to Comply with Texas Law, Illegally Driving Up Electricity Prices and Creating Artificial Scarcity
Media Coverage:
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Power trader sues Texas utility regulator over program that spiked prices by estimated $12 billion, Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News (subscription required for both)
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Power Trader Challenges Texas Grid Policy Over Price Spikes, Yahoo Finance and Bloomberg (subscription required)
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This Texas Law Firm is Gearing to Battle the Public Utility Commission, Texas Lawyer (subscription required)
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Power Trader Brings Legal Challenge to PUCT’s Creation of Contingency Reserve Service, The Texas Lawbook (subscription required)
Aspire Power Ventures has appealed the Public Utility Commission’s orders creating and modifying the ERCOT Contingency Reserve Service (“ECRS”).
The ECRS has been used by ERCOT to hold back generation from the grid when it would otherwise be available, creating artificial scarcity and needlessly alarming Texas residents about the grid’s stability multiple times last summer. Ironically, not only does ECRS allow ERCOT to keep electricity off the grid when it is available and needed, it has added $12 billion of unnecessary costs since it was implemented, with consumers footing the bill. Electricity generators have been paid more than $600 million simply to hold back supply, all as a result of orders that failed to comply with the law.
“Yet again, the PUC and ERCOT have issued rules that fail to comply with the law. Rather than give the public notice of the ECRS rules before they were enacted and allow people to challenge them before they were finalized, the PUC issued rules that were obscured from public scrutiny and ended up costing Texans dearly,” said Chrysta Castañeda, attorney for Aspire Power Ventures. “State agencies are required to comply with the Administrative Procedures Act, not keep the public in the dark about what they are doing. Public input is a critical part of the process, and without it, the PUC is acting illegally.”
The case is Aspire Power Ventures LP v. Public Utility Commission of Texas, No. 03-24-00102-CV in the Third Court of Appeals, Austin, Texas.
February 20, 2024