Texas Public Utility Commission

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.

State senators have taken policies that would damage the Texas renewable energy sector and added them to a bill to fund the state's Public Utility Commission.

The actions by the Public Utility Commission led to billions of dollars of overcharges, the Austin-based court found. It’s not yet clear if the ruling will affect consumers.

The plan would raise prices and carbon dioxide emissions, and critics say it may not bring reliability.

ERCOT says that, as a division of state government, it has sovereign immunity. Plaintiffs point out that it is also an independent nonprofit, a fact the grid operator sometimes uses to its advantage.

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.

The report also recommends the Public Utility Commission hire more of its own analysts rather than rely on industry and other outside groups to help make decisions that affect the entire state.

State lawmakers are discussing ways to increase electric grid reliability, but some experts say the proposed changes could hurt renewable energy without bolstering the grid.

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.

On May 4, 1976, a power company based in Texas sent electricity from a substation in Vernon, Texas, to Altus, Okla. By doing so, they were breaking a deal among power companies in Texas to keep electricity within state borders.