KUT A pedestrian carries a gasoline can in South Austin during February's winter storm. Hundreds of thousands of Austinites lost power during the freeze. Texas regulators on Friday chose not to lower the price of electricity in the days following last month’s blackout. The decision has massive implications for Texas ratepayers, electric companies and power generators. During the deadly Texas blackout last month, the wholesale price of electricity skyrocketed to its highest allowable rate: $9,000 per megawatt hour. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, the state’s grid operator, allowed it to stay that high for days after. In a hearing Thursday before the state Senate's Committee on Business and Commerce, ERCOT said maintaining the high price was necessary to manage the re-powering of parts of the grid that had been cut off.