ERCOT

In the 1930s, regulating industries was seen as essential to prevent another Great Depression. Later as America soured on regulation, Texas energy execs saw themselves as part of the solution.

Senate Bill 7, the bill that deregulated Texas' retail electrical market, was drafted in secret, championed by a disgraced energy giant and, ultimately, garnered bipartisan support. It drastically transformed Texas' energy landscape. Here's how it passed.

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.

During the February blackout, much of Texas didn’t have access to electricity produced in states where snow and ice weren’t shutting things down.

The 60-point “Roadmap to Improving Grid Reliability” includes more energy conservation alerts and plans to increase transmission capacity in South and West Texas.

Texans were asked to cut back on their electricity use for a week because of “tight” power grid conditions, according to ERCOT officials. They still haven’t said what caused the plant outages.

ERCOT dijo que varios generadores de electricidad están bajo reparación, privando al estado de unos 11,000 megavatios de capacidad de generación — aproximadamente la cantidad de energía que se necesita para suplir a 2.2 millones de hogares en un día caluroso de verano.

ERCOT said several power generators in the state are on forced outages for repairs, putting about 11,000 megawatts — about the amount of energy it takes to power 2.2 million homes on a summer day — out of commission.

After February's deadly power outages, new legislation would mandate winterizing parts of the state's energy system. But lawmakers took a pass on major market reforms to make the grid more resilient.

To make sure the burden of any future outages are shared among more people for less time, the utility is looking to get big industrial or commercial customers to agree to voluntarily cut power to leave more for homes.