Four ERCOT members resigned after Texas power outage

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Four members of the board of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, the entity that manages and operates the power grid that covers much of Texas, will step down on Wednesday, according to a statement to the Public Utility Commission.

Sally Talberg, chairman of the board; Peter Cramton, vice president; Terry Bulger, president of finance and auditing; and Raymond Hepper, chairman of the human resources and governance committee, will resign at the end of the ERCOT board meeting on Wednesday morning, according to the statement. All four live outside the state.

Craig Ivey, who also lives outside Texas, was scheduled to fill a vacancy, but withdrew his application, according to the notice.

ERCOT board members were criticized last week when it was reported that some of the board members did not reside in the state. ERCOT officials, during a press conference last week, said they had removed personal information about the directors of their website because board members were being harassed.

The council was also criticized for dealing with last week’s massive power outage during a winter storm that claimed the lives of dozens of Texans. More than 4.5 million customers were without power at one point last week.

Talberg, a former state utility regulator who served on the Michigan Public Service Commission from 2013 to 2020, lives in Michigan. Talberg has participated in several state, regional and national councils and committees involving issues of electricity, natural gas, oil, infrastructure and telecommunications. Cramton, professor of economics at the University of Cologne and the University of Maryland, lives in Germany. Cramton focused his research on the financial and electricity markets. He has advised several governments and has served on the ERCOT board since 2015.

Bulger has worked in the banking industry for 35 years, including several positions at ABN AMRO Bank in Canada, Europe and the USA, and lives in Wheaton, Illinois. Hepper, a former U.S. Department of Justice litigant, retired in 2018 from work for the network operator who manages the electrical system in six New England states and the wholesale markets.

Ivey, whose nomination was approved by ERCOT members, but awaiting final approval from PUC, has ceased to have more than three decades of experience in the utility sector. He lives in Florida, according to an ERCOT announcement about his candidacy for the board. Most recently, he was president of Consolidated Edison Co. of New York Inc., a subsidiary of Consolidated Edison Inc.

ERCOT representatives did not return calls for comment, but in a statement it said: “We look forward to working with the Texas Legislature and we thank the members of the Council who are stepping down for their services.”

Fifteen directors serve on the ERCOT board, including the four non-affiliated directors, whose resignations will take effect at the end of Wednesday’s meeting. Vacancies will not be filled immediately.

For ERCOT to maintain its certification as an independent organization, the board, which must consist of 16 members, must include five who are not fully affiliated with “any market segment”. Ivey would be the fifth non-affiliated member.

“The leadership positions of chairman of the board, vice chairman of the board and both chairmen of the committee will be vacant,” according to the statement presented by the lawyers representing ERCOT.