Four members of the Texas grid operator’s board intend to step down after last week’s blackouts left millions of people without electricity in a harsh winter.
The Texas chairman and vice chairman of the Texas Electric Reliability Council, or ERCOT, along with two other board members, issued a joint statement announcing their intention to resign at a meeting on Wednesday, according to a filing from the Texas Public Utility Commission.
“To allow state leaders to be free to direct the future and eliminate distractions, we are resigning the board after our urgent teleconference meeting ends on Wednesday, February 24, 2021,” the statement said.
ERCOT did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The letter was signed by President Sally Talberg, Vice President Peter Cramton, Chairman of the Finance and Audit Committee, Terry Bulger, and Chairman of the Governance and Human Resources Committee, Raymond Hepper.
The four members said in the letter that they heard concerns about the leadership of the council “from outside the state” and want to acknowledge the “pain and suffering” of Texans last week.
“With the right monitoring, Texas can lead the country in investing in infrastructure and preparing for emergencies to withstand the effects of severe weather events – whether in the form of floods, droughts, extreme temperatures or hurricanes,” the letter said. “We want what’s best for ERCOT and Texas.”
A fifth person, Craig Ivey, withdrew his petition to fill a vacancy on the board in a letter acknowledging that he also lives outside Texas, according to the document. Ivey said in his statement that Texas is a state with a “rich history”, where people are “proud, independent and resilient”.
“I have full confidence that Texas and ERCOT will emerge from this crisis better than before,” said Ivey’s letter.
Governor Greg Abbott said he “welcomed” the resignations in a statement on Tuesday.
“When Texans desperately needed electricity, ERCOT was unable to do its job and Texans were shivering in their homes without power,” said Abbott. “ERCOT’s leadership ensured that Texas’s energy infrastructure was prepared for the winter storm, but those guarantees proved to be terribly false.”
Abbot declared ERCOT reform a top priority last week, urging the legislature to investigate the grid service.
“This is unacceptable,” he said. “Reviewing ERCOT’s preparations and decisions is an emergency item so that we can have a complete view of what caused this problem and find long-term solutions.”
More than 3 million people and businesses were left without power after a large cold winter front swept Texas last week, leaving Texans without power in sub-zero temperatures. Residents struggled to keep warm and the lack of heating froze the pipes, contributing to the state’s water crisis.
ERCOT, which oversees about 90 percent of Texas’ energy production, cited frozen equipment for the loss of production of its natural gas and some renewable energy sources.
Although Texas is one of the largest energy producers and consumers in the country, it is not subject to federal regulations, as it depends on its own power grid. Critics said the lack of supervision allowed the state to shirk its responsibilities under federal requirements that would have better prepared the power grid for the winter.
This is an evolving story; check again for updates.
