'Overwhelming, cascading community impacts': Report highlights Austin's failures during freezeĮRCOT and the utility commission also are in the process of considering other changes to how the state's power market operates, which Morstad said could have more financial ramifications. That's because Tuesday's cost estimates are on top of the amounts consumers will pay as a result of billions of dollars in bonds that state officials previously authorized to help electricity providers and natural gas companies manage huge debts racked up as prices skyrocketed amid the February 2021 grid calamity, when prolonged blackouts during a severe winter freeze contributed to hundreds of deaths and billions of dollars in property damage. In addition, Morstad said consumers in the state are suffering "death by a thousand cuts" when it comes to ERCOT. But he said Texans can't be sure if officials in charge of the grid have chosen the most cost-effective measures, since "they didn’t lay out the options and show us the price tags" before enacting them. "We knew there were associated costs, but they haven't been transparent" about the amounts.Ĭhanges clearly needed to be made to how the grid was managed, he said. “I appreciate the numbers are coming out now, but they should come out before decisions are made so the public can weigh in," said Morstad, who serves as associate state director of AARP Texas.
Regardless, consumer advocate Tim Morstad said it's past time that officials who oversee the grid start informing Texans of the cost of their policy decisions, saying he and others have been trying to obtain such information since last summer. Lake's estimate only includes early May, whereas Bivens' encompasses the entire month. Rich Parsons, a spokesman for the utility commission, said the estimate by Lake was provided to him by ERCOT, and he also said it covers a different timeframe. That's about 12% higher than Lake's figure. Including costs incurred during the second half of 2021, Bivens pegged the price tag to keep higher levels of reserves at the ready at a minimum of about $425 million through the end of May this year. He didn't provide an estimate of the cost associated with the policy shift aimed at making wholesale prices rise quicker. Lake said last month that the cost of buying additional reserves totaled about $380 million from June 2021 last year through early May this year, which he likened to $1 a month per household in the ERCOT system. Still, a previous estimate provided by Lake of the costs associated with ERCOT's effort to operate with higher reserves appears low in light of Bivens' figures. “There is a lot of unknowns (that can happen), which is why having that additional margin of safety is so, so important to ensure we can keep the lights on," said Lake, who has said he has "absolute confidence" that there won't be a systemic grid failure this summer that causes power outages. MORE: Texas still dealing with economic blow from freeze-induced grid failureĬould it happen again? Winter to test Texas power grid reforms after February disaster
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