With just over two weeks remaining in the legislative session, the governor’s office is getting the first key bill that Texas House and Senate lawmakers have passed in response to February’s widespread power outages.
House Bill 16, which got final approval from the House on Wednesday, would not allow residential or small-business electricity customers in Texas to sign up for electricity plans where wholesale prices for power are passed to customers. Those plans include the kind that caused February power bills to skyrocket for several customers of Griddy Energy and other companies. Some customers reported bills over $15,000.
And while HB 16 is the first legislation of some significance to gain approval by both chambers, lawmakers are trying to approve many more power grid-related changes following the storm, in which more than 100 people died. Lawmakers have considered an $8 billion proposal by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Energy for backup power, and they have advance
Texas Legislature approves bill to ban residential wholesale electricity plans
By Mitchell Ferman
AUSTIN, Texas - With just over two weeks remaining in the legislative session, the governor’s office is getting the first key bill that Texas House and Senate lawmakers have passed in response to February’s widespread power outages.
House Bill 16, which got final approval from the House on Wednesday, would not allow residential or small-business electricity customers in Texas to sign up for electricity plans where wholesale prices for power are passed to customers. Those plans include the kind that caused February power bills to skyrocket for several customers of Griddy Energy and other companies. Some customers reported bills over $15,000.
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In an April 22 report, Enverus said 65% of producer respondents and 80% of pipeline company respondents identified loss of power as one of the main factors that affected operations during the storm that left millions of Texas customers in the dark. Once power outages at power generation units began due to the extreme cold weather, natural gas production and transportation were impacted because surface facilities and infrastructure rely heavily on electricity for operations, Enverus said in the report, commissioned by the Texas Oil and Gas Association. Then, power outages at natural gas facilities impaired the ability of power generators to receive natural gas supplies.