By Tom Kleckner

Texas regulators last week praised the response of the state’s utilities, ERCOT and first responders during discussion of a preliminary report on restoration efforts in the wake of Hurricane Harvey.

Speaking during an Aug. 31 open meeting of the Public Utility Commission of Texas, Commissioner Ken Anderson noted the “remarkable” restoration effort in flood-stricken Houston, especially when compared to Hurricane Ike’s aftermath in 2008.

Brandy Marty Marquez, the PUC’s other commissioner, described a road trip she took a day earlier to the deep-sea fishing community of Port Aransas. Port A, as South Texans refer to the beach town, was devastated by Harvey’s 130-mph winds.

“I saw linemen with all different uniforms [on the way]. It was very inspiring,” Marquez said. “We have a long way to go, but you can’t mess with Texas. We’ll be fine. This is a big test for us, but everyone’s risen to the occasion.”

PUC Executive Director Brian Lloyd became visibly emotional as he talked about the 10,000 utility workers from around the country who have descended to help Texas with the restoration.

Taking a few seconds to regain his composure, Lloyd told the commissioners, “It’s great to see that work.”

“As an industry, we should be very proud of what has happened in the response,” said NRG Energy Director of Regulatory Affairs Bill Barnes. “We have a lot of friends to thank across this industry.”

American Electric Power, CenterPoint Energy, Entergy Texas and Texas-New Mexico Power reported just more than 200,000 combined customer outages Aug. 31, down from about 278,000 the day before. That number had dropped to almost 78,000 by Sunday afternoon.

“Other than the areas with extensive damage and flooding, a good chunk of this will be back online this weekend,” Lloyd said.

‘This is Personal’

ERCOT  filed a status report with the commission Aug. 30 indicating that two of the six 345-kV lines that Harvey knocked out of service have yet to be restored. Another 55 high-voltage transmission lines in the storm-affected areas were still out of service as of Friday morning, the ISO said.

Most of those outages are in the Coastal Bend area between Corpus Christi and Houston, which took the full brunt of high winds when Harvey made landfall as a Category 4 storm. AEP Texas said Thursday that more than 4,600 workers have spent 14- to 16-hour days restoring power.

The bulk of those without power — about 40,000 — are in the Rockport-Victoria-Aransas Pass area. AEP Texas estimates it will take until Sept. 8 to complete its restoration work in the region.

Barnes offered a note of caution to the PUC: Just because it’s stopped raining doesn’t mean Harvey’s damage is over.

“What we’re dealing with is something that is very devastating and will have a lasting impact,” he said. “This is going to take a significant amount of time to recover from. A lot of people have had their lives changed forever as a result of this. That includes our employees, our families, our friends.

“The Corpus Christi-Victoria area is our backyard; Houston is our home. So this is personal.”

Barnes told the commissioners that NRG and its retail electric providers would halt disconnect notices through Sept. 30 for its customers in affected areas, and provide “direct financial relief” in the form of payment extensions, late fee and deposit alternatives or waivers, and increased funding of bill payment assistance programs.

The companies will also provide more than $2 million in disaster relief resources, including donating money to relief agencies and deploying a mobile generation station and disaster relief command center for affected communities, according to a filing with the PUC.

TXU Energy said it would also be waiving late fees through Sept. 30, along with extending payment due dates with no down payment required, and reducing down payments and deferring balances over five equal installments.

Anderson commended the retailers for their actions, saying, “It’s a good example for the rest of the retail industry.”

Generation, Demand Down

ERCOT also reported Friday that 7,500 MW of generation remains unavailable or operating at reduced capacity. The loss does not represent a reliability concern, and the ISO expects to have sufficient generation for the “foreseeable future.”

System demand has been down significantly since shortly before the storm made landfall Aug. 25, ranging between 41 and 48 GW, approximately 15 to 20 GW lower than normal. Demand has started to increase as service is restored and temperatures begin to rise, with projected peaks over the weekend of 56 GW. (ERCOT had predicted a peak of 73 GW this summer.)

The South Texas Project nuclear plant in Bay City, 90 miles southwest of Houston, remained online during the storm. Like other plants in the area, operators at the 2,760-MW double-unit facility were “literally locked in [the] plant for days,” Marquez said.

Barnes agreed. “Road access was flooded,” he said, referring to the situation at other NRG plants. The company is one of STP’s co-owners.