Senator Troy Fraser, the chair of Senate Natural Resources Committee, warned the major electric generation companies this afternoon that unless they move swiftly to shore up their power plants against extreme weather, they can expect more regulations from state government.
Fraser said he would prefer free market solutions, but is prepared to impose new regulations, letting everyone in the room know that they were going to be leaning on the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), the Public Utility Commission (PUC) and the Railroad Commission, but clearly directing his remarks at the top executives of Luminant, NRG Texas and Direct Energy, who were there to testify as a panel during the hearing.
The following is Public Citizen’s testimony at today’s Senate (Business and Commerce and Natural Resources) hearing on the rolling blackouts. Public Citizen’s was the only public testimony given today, following the sea of invited testimony from agencies, retail electric providers, and electric generation companies. If you want to watch the archived video of the hearing, click here. (more…)
