Blackouts reveal endemic problems in the Texas power market
Texas must incentivize power companies to invest in reliable, baseload generation.
An Oncor crew works on along Elsie Faye Heggins Street as power outages continue across the state after a second winter storm brought more snow and continued freezing temperatures to North Texas on Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2021, in Dallas. (Smiley N. Pool/The Dallas Morning News)(Smiley N. Pool / Staff Photographer)
By Bernard L. Weinstein
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Now that the Texas deep freeze is receding and electric power is being restored, the blame game is heating up.
Gov. Greg Abbott has called for an investigation and resignations at the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, known as ERCOT, the state’s electric grid operator. Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan has asked two committees in the lower chamber to hold a joint hearing later this month to review the outages. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, head of the state Senate, says the Senate Business and Commerce Commi