SEN. KOLKHORST, STATE SENATE PASS LEGISLATION CORRECTING PUC PRICING ERRORS

  

State Senator Lois Kolkhorst and other Texas Senators passed legislation aimed at skyrocketing utility costs caused by last month’s winter storm and associated power grid failures.

A bipartisan Senate majority on Monday passed Senate Bill 2142, which now moves to the Texas House for consideration.  The bill acknowledges that the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUC) has the authority to correct potentially billions of dollars in pricing errors under Section 39.151(d), Utilities Code.

The bill also orders the commission to correct the mistake so that prices charged reflect the actual market price of wholesale power and ancillary services that would have been paid during that period, absent intervention by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) to artificially set prices.

During and after Winter Storm Uri, the PUC set the price of electricity at $9,000 per megawatt hour, many times higher than normal billing rates.  Independent market monitors have revealed that even after there was no longer a shortage of power available to the grid, the PUC maintained that price for approximately 32 more hours on February 18^th and 19^th.  This ultimately led to billing errors for the price of the electricity.

Kolkhorst said she has heard from many constituents on this matter, stating she is “committed to protecting Texas ratepayers from this expensive billing error.”  She said the state “must make absolutely sure that bad behavior is not rewarded on the backs of Texas families.”