Blackouts

In oral arguments on Tuesday, the Texas Supreme Court was asked not to decide whether regulators made the right call, but whether they acted within their authority when they set energy prices to the max.

A panel of judges has said that big power companies cannot be held liable for failure to provide electricity during the 2021 blackout. The reason is Texas’ deregulated energy market.

A seasonal report from ERCOT shows the grid should hold up under normal winter conditions. But there are scenarios in which the grid operator would need to institute blackouts like it did in 2021.

Dialysis centers closed. Hospitals overwhelmed. When a historic winter storm walloped Texas in 2021, tens of thousands of dialysis patients were trapped at home with no treatment options.

Despite unanimously rejecting a petition to strengthen standards in the state, regulators with the Public Utility Commission said they weren't rejecting the idea outright. Instead, they said they needed more time to explore the issue.

Manjula Shah is included in the state’s official death count. Manjula's family says her husband of nearly 60 years should be, too. Researchers say there are many Texans missing from the official tally.

Gov. Greg Abbott's office has said he was "not involved in any way" with the decision. Testimony from the former head of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas appears to contradict that.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission released some findings on Thursday from an investigation into February's deadly winter storm and blackouts. Regulators faulted Texas energy policy for much of the disaster.

The market redesign is ongoing, and the grid operator has already made some changes to improve reliability. Nonetheless, officials warn Texans to expect more energy conservation requests in the coming weeks as temperatures rise.

La oficina del médico forense del condado de Travis publicó sus hallazgos finales sobre las muertes que ocurrieron durante la helada de febrero. Esto es lo que encontró.