A $16 billion market “error”: That’s the latest charge from Texas’ “independent market monitor” stemming from the Lone Star state’s February deep freeze and resulting electricity crisis.
The Public Utility Commission last week decided against rescinding those alleged charges, a move that arguably would have ignited even more chaos. But Texas’ grid operator still has a payments shortfall estimated at $2.5 billion, with more than a dozen companies facing imminent default.
The mid-February spike in power prices from $20.79 per megawatt hour pre-storm to the $9,000 per MWH “cap” has already forced the state’s largest and oldest cooperative Brazos Electric into bankruptcy. Serving 1.5 million customers through 16 member distributors, the entity faces $2.1 billion in storm related liabilities. And it’s defaulted rather than pass them on to customers.
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