Texans face a cascade of frustrations and expenses as the state tries to recover from the storm. Insurance companies are bracing for claims rivaling those after major hurricanes, and homeowners are trying to find plumbers and electricians.
Texas Public Utility Commission
Posted in
Winter Storm 2021
Analysis: Working political angles instead of solving problems
As Texans struggle with terrible winter weather, electric utility failures affecting more than 4 million households, a pandemic and a botched vaccine rollout, a natural question arises: Do state leaders know what they’re doing?
Posted in
Texas Legislature 2021
Analysis: Texas tries to make the connections on broadband internet
Texans stuck at home need high-speed internet for schooling, for work, for shopping, for medicine, for entertainment — the live, in-person activities we all took for granted a year ago. Sounds simple enough, but there’s a lot to untangle.
Posted in
Texas Legislature 2021
Internet and phone services in rural Texas threatened as state slashes subsidies for providers
A state fund that subsidizes rural network service is bleeding money. Now the state is drastically cutting the amount of money that it typically pays out to these service providers.
Posted in
Coronavirus in Texas
Nearly 600,000 Texans will lose access to a program that prevented electricity shut-offs during the pandemic on Oct. 1
Once the program ends, customers could be on the hook for partial back payments.
Posted in
Coronavirus in Texas
Analysis: Funding for rural broadband in Texas is in trouble. The pandemic might save it.
Rural Texans have been clamoring for high-speed internet services for years, and the requirements of a pandemic — work, schools and medicine — have raised the stakes. But a state fund that helps provide those services is in financial trouble.
Posted in
Coronavirus in Texas
As Texas businesses reopen, a short-lived coronavirus safety net is dismantled
Evictions and debt collections have resumed, child care subsidies will be discontinued and those who are out of work will again have to prove they are searching for a job in order to receive unemployment benefits.
Posted in
Coronavirus in Texas
Texas utility regulators have programs to prevent shutoffs during the pandemic. But some Texans are falling through the cracks.
Although some counties have moratoriums on disconnections, in most of the state customers need to apply for the benefit.
Posted in
Coronavirus in Texas
Texas regulators vote to ban residential utility shut-offs during pandemic while buoying companies
The Texas Public Utility Commission approved an order Thursday that would ban disconnections of water and power service for Texans financially impacted by COVID-19 and put them on deferred payment plans. But advocates and experts say the real winner might be utility providers.
Posted in
Energy
Fearing outages, Texas regulators consider controversial plan to boost power generation
The Public Utility Commission is considering measures to ensure Texans don’t lose power in the hot summer months. A plan generators are pushing could cost $4 billion — and lead to higher electric bills.
