The Texas Senate on Monday passed a bill that would require repricing of $4.2 billion in wholesale market transactions that ERCOT’s Independent Market Monitor identified as “billing errors” associated with the winter storm that gripped the state last month.
If passed by the House of Representatives and signed by Gov. Greg Abbott, Senate Bill 2142 would direct the state’s Public Utility Commission to reprice market transactions for Feb. 18-19, when ERCOT kept $9,000/MWh scarcity pricing in place after the grid had been stabilized following the storm.
Authored by Sen. Bryan Hughes (R), the bill says the PUC has “all necessary authority” to order ERCOT to correct wholesale power and ancillary services sold between 11:55 p.m. Feb. 17 and 9 a.m. Feb. 19. It places a March 20 deadline on the commission to do so and does not offer details on how to correct the prices.
During testimony before the Senate’s Jurisprudence Committee March 11, PUC Chair Arthur D’Andrea said that he lacked the authority to retroactively change the prices, and he questioned the Monitor’s contention of a billing error. He said repricing the market would lead to additional bankruptcies and other unforeseen circumstances. (See Abbott Rejects Call to Fire D’Andrea.)
D’Andrea, the only commissioner left after the other two resigned, declined to comment on the bill.
“When it comes to any pending legislation, out of deference to the Legislature and its ongoing process, the chairman’s commentary will be limited to his statements in legislative hearings, our open meetings and associated memoranda,” spokesperson Andrew Barlow said in a statement Monday.
The bill will likely be opposed by power producers, who benefited from the $47 billion in market transactions during the storm and its aftermath. ERCOT’s normal annual market transactions amount to about $10 billion.
The full Senate wasn’t scheduled to be in session Monday, and the bill had not been filed when the morning began. However, SB 2142 was read on the Senate floor and then heard by the Jurisprudence Committee, which conducted nearly six hours of hearings last week on the issue. The bill passed out of committee by a 3-1 vote, with only Sen. Brandon Creighton (R) opposing.
The legislation cleared the Senate by a 27-3 margin.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who dressed down D’Andrea in front of the Jurisprudence Committee last week, thanked senators for “this extraordinary day.”
“The Senate has acted. We now ask the governor to join us,” Patrick said. “Hopefully, the House will take up [this bill] and pass the legislation necessary.”
Abbott last week added the repricing issue as emergency legislation for consideration. He told Patrick Friday that the legislature is the only body that can “authorize the solution you want.”
