The Texas freeze: Why the power grid failed Premium AUSTIN, TEXAS - FEBRUARY 19: Electric power lines run through a neighborhood on February 19, 2021 in Austin, Texas. Amid days of nationwide frigid winter storms in which 58 people died, more than 4 million Texans were without power for much of the past week, with about 13 million Texans being forced to boil tap water in the aftermath of the strain on infrastructure. Joe Raedle/Getty Images/AFP == FOR NEWSPAPERS, INTERNET, TELCOS & TELEVISION USE ONLY == (AFP) Katherine Blunt , The Wall Street Journal The state’s electricity system was considered a model. This week’s outages revealed shortcomings in the market structure.