Utility commission refuses to reverse $16 billion in ERCOT overcharges Bob Sechler, Austin American-Statesman Replay Video UP NEXT About $16 billion in overcharges for wholesale electricity racked up because of a pricing error during the massive failure of the state's power grid last month won't be reversed, after Texas utility regulators rejected a recommendation that they make the change. “It's just nearly impossible to unscramble this sort of egg," Arthur D'Andrea, the new chair of the Public Utility Commission, said during a commission meeting Friday. Potomac Economics, a Virginia-based firm that's paid by the state to provide an arm's-length assessment of the Texas power grid, recommended Thursday in a letter to the commission that the overcharges — which were billed to retail electric providers, distributors and others — be reversed by retroactively lowering wholesale electricity prices for a 32-hour period beginning Feb. 18.