Texas Public Utility Commissioner Shelly Botkin resigned Monday, leaving the three-person body with just one member.
The PUC announced Botkin’s departure in a one-sentence statement saying she had “resigned her role … effective immediately.”
Botkin’s resignation leaves only Chair Arthur D’Andrea on the PUC. Former Chair DeAnn Walker resigned last week after taking heat from lawmakers over the PUC’s response to the February blackouts that left millions of Texans without power during a cold snap. (See PUCT’s Walker Steps Down from Commission.)
Botkin was appointed to the commission by Gov. Greg Abbott in 2018 and reappointed in 2019 to a term that would have expired in 2025. Previously, she handled government relations and communications for Texas PUC’s Botkin Applies Life Lessons to Work.)
At her last PUC open meeting on March 5, Botkin said she would be taking Walker’s position on SPP’s Regional State Committee. However, something apparently changed over the weekend and, on Monday, she surprised staff with her resignation.
Transmission and reliability consultant Alison Silverstein told RTO Insider that Botkin’s time with ERCOT has invited conflict-of-interest perceptions as state officials sort through the cause of the outages, which claimed the job of ERCOT CEO Bill Magness and prompted multiple resignations from the ISO’s board. (See ERCOT Cuts Ties with Magness.)
“Real or not, the appearance of bias cannot be overcome by [Botkin’s] deep industry expertise and personal integrity, and this issue is too important to be compromised by potentially tainted decisions from Texas’ lead regulatory agency,” Silverstein said.
Under the PUC’s governing statute, the commission is able to convene meetings with just one commissioner. That happened in 2001, when Brett Perlman was left by himself after Judy Walsh cycled off the PUC and Pat Wood was nominated for the FERC chairmanship. Perlman conducted at least one meeting by himself.
The commission’s next open meeting is scheduled for Thursday.
During its last meeting, the PUC declined to act on the ERCOT Independent Market Monitor’s recommendation to reprice $16 billion worth of emergency market transactions, saying the unintended consequences could be disastrous to a different set of market participants. (See Texas PUC Won’t Reprice $16B Error.)
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick responded Monday by calling for the PUC and ERCOT to follow the Monitor’s recommendations. He said the PUC had “declined” to exercise its authority and follow the Monitor’s recommendation.
“Correcting this $16 billion error will require an adjustment, but it is the right thing to do,” he said. “It will ultimately benefit consumers and is one important step we can take now to begin to fix what went wrong in the storm.”
