Texas' Electric Capacity Under Scrutiny
Last summer’s record heat pushed the Texas power grid to the brink. Many of us sat comfortably in our air conditioning without realizing we were on the edge of rolling blackouts.
Today, a state House committee will look into what's being done to prevent that from happening again.
Audio: Ben Philpott's story for KUT News
The state is struggling to replace capacity at plants that, because of age or federal regulation, need to be overhauled or simply closed. That’s the landscape Rep. Byron Cook, R-Corsicana, will survey at today’s State Affairs Committee hearing.
“As an ...
Comments (10)
Elmo
Blame David Sibley Kip Averitt and Rick Perry. They deregualted the utilities and put money in there pockets from TXU
J Woodman
poor Elmo - probably not bright enough to in from a storm....deregulation is GOOD for America - it is all that will drive innovation to new ways to supply energy to our nation....go ask the residents of Colorado if they like being charged for dozens of add-on "costs" to XCEL power plants so the citizens pay for and should own the plants, but alas, they do not - they still pay for the power but never get ownership - that is what is wrong with monopoly utilities - they pay off the PUC-type entities in a state and YOU pay whatever they ask - no choice is more like socialism than free enterprise - why do you prefer that?
Elmo
Poor ole Woodie. Clueless poster of the year award. He does undersatand that we went from the lowest cost per kilowat to the 3 rd highest at the expense of Sibley linning his pockets from TXU. We were promised plenty of supply and 5 years later we are short. It is because the same thing happened in Calfornia t is happening here. Corporate greed your clueless poster. Sibley the highest paid lobyist in Texas at your expense. Por ole Woodie, he does not know any better
Barbara Hankins
I'm for less regulations in a lot of areas, but it has not been good for electricity. Generating facilities were "sold" and "bought" several times, the debt from which continues to increase their operating costs (Just look at the cost per KWH before and after deregulation in Texas), and no entity has the responsibility for supplying the growing electric demand of the service areas. .
I wish we could go back to the old system of regulated monopolies. But the debt is there, a few people have put that money in their pockets and we have to figure out how to move forward. I don't know if Texas should accept that we can count on other areas (which are still regulated) to supply us with electricity when demand is too high for our plants.
Robert McCausland
There is a gas-fired power plant with a Dallas address sandwiched between Coppell and Irving that has been idle for years. I believe that it is still idle. It's my understanding that TXU had mothballed it because of the price of natural gas. But that price has been at extremely low levels for years, and our state produces a lot that apparently now sits in storage. Therefore, I ask: Has the power plant been put back into service, and if not, why? Thank you.
cal morton
Elmo, Texas has the 20th highest average kWh cost in the country http://bit.ly/cf4L5D , and we were never the lowest., or even the top five lowest. And Mr. Woodman, Colorado has lower average retail costs than Texas.
It's not surprising that you are both wrong with simple facts, finger-pointing and name calling is usually a very thin veil for people that don't really know what they're talking about... like politicians.
Michael Miranda
I believe we need to replace all the coal fired plants. There is no such thing as "clean coal" and I don't think you will ever be able to convince me otherwise. One chemical for example, Mercury, that these plants put out is so toxic and deadly in just minute amounts it has to be affecting the health of people. That's in addition to the CO'2, ozone and all the other stuff they pollute our air with.
Increasing our wind power capabilities is one way to help. Another excellent alternative would be to build hydroelectric plants. The resulting reservoirs would also help solve Texas' water shortfall. "Kill two beasts with one stone" sort of thing. Look at California, they have a series of dams and hydroelectric plants that stretch from the northern part of the state all the way down to the southern part giving them excess electric capacity along with plenty of water. Texas could lead the nation with this assuring it's residents of a much brighter future with ample electricity and water if only the state house had the will and the guts to do so.
D W
and we don't mention how bad the drought will impact electricity production. and cold (which we missed this year). since nothing has really changed (other than the drought is worse this year than last, and the lack of really cold weather), we will have more rolling blackouts this year. as we have more population. and the power grid is more strained. and with deregulation, there is actually incentive to not build new power plants (or add capacity) as it impacts the incomes of providers directly.
Elmo
Cal you are wrong bud. Check www. electrictyrates/texas/us.gov and you are wrong my friend. Shows after deregulation rates went over over 69%. We were promised b Mr Sibley this would not happen and it did. Now he lobbys for the people who benefitted namely the electric companies andnow is one of the highest paid in the state. Cal something wrog with that and is crooked. He lined his pockets at the expense of all of us. Surely you can that
hans5162@ix.netcom.com hans
We are governed by greedy lying morons, starting with the Governor, the Greedy Lying Moron in Chief.