Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick focuses on PUC, testing Governor Greg Abbott

Since last month’s winter weather disaster, Governor Greg Abbott has been working to place the blame directly on the state’s grid operator – despite the fact that it is overseen by the Abbott-appointed Public Utility Commission.

But as state lawmakers deepen their response to the crisis, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick is making it increasingly difficult to look away from the commission, casting a strong spotlight on the people of Abbott and his decisions.

Last week, Patrick asked for the resignation of the then president of PUC, DeAnn Walker – and hours later, she gave up. So, after a regulator told the commission earlier this week that the Texas Electric Reliability Council charged energy providers more by $ 16 billion during the storm, Patrick demanded that PUC retroactively cut costs – and Abbott considered this is an emergency item for the legislative session The next day.

The agency subsequently revised its estimate of excessive charges to $ 4.2 billion, but that did not lessen Patrick’s ire. The deputy governor’s focus at PUC had its most dramatic turnaround until Thursday night, when he appeared at a state Senate committee hearing to personally question Arthur D’Andrea, Abbott’s new commission chairman – and the only member left.

Finally, Patrick ended the week with his most direct challenge to Abbott. In a statement on Friday night, Patrick asked Abbott to “intercede” and replace D’Andrea, challenging the governor to abandon his nine-day-old nominee, who previously worked as Abbott’s assistant general counsel.

Abbott quickly rejected Patrick.

Even before Patrick’s declaration, Capitol observers said they couldn’t remember anything like the Patrick-D’Andrea clash in recent memory.

“It is highly unusual, and I have never seen a vice governor come and sit and attend an audience as if he were a senator – and also address someone like that in public – if that is not the intention to pressure you resign, ”said Sandie Haverlah, a lobbyist for nonprofit organizations. “This is clearly an affront to the governor, because D’Andrea serves the governor’s will.”

Asked before Patrick’s statement on Friday whether Abbott remains confident in D’Andrea’s ability to chair the PUC, Abbott spokeswoman Renae Eze replied, “Certainly.” And in a letter released after Patrick requested D’Andrea’s expulsion, Abbott told Patrick that he agreed with D’Andrea “about his inability to take the measures you requested”, referring to the much sought after price correction.

Abbott has resisted blaming PUC, which regulates the state’s electricity, water and telecommunications utilities, since the early days of the storm, instead opting to denounce the Texas Electric Reliability Council. Asked at a press conference on February 18 if he had any responsibility for the crisis, due to his office’s relationship with PUC, Abbott kept his focus on ERCOT, saying: “I am taking responsibility for the current status of ERCOT”.

“This is not a word I would normally use to describe Dan Patrick, but I think he has always been a little more circumspect, especially in relation to ERCOT,” said Adrian Shelley, Texas director of the consumer rights group Public Citizen. “Abbott was immediately out there, taking cheap photos from ERCOT.”

What is driving the momentum is the source of growing speculation in Austin. There is a political background: Patrick has never been able to completely dispel rumors that he is interested in the governor’s office, despite insisting that he would never run against Abbott and repeatedly saying that he plans to run for a third term as vice governor in 2022.

In the context of this session, it was a notable resurgence for Patrick, who kept an unusually low profile in the first few weeks. That started to change in early February, when he started fighting over playing the national anthem in professional sports games and prepared to disclose a list of legislative priorities.

Then came the storm, which left millions of Texans in the cold and in the dark, raised uncomfortable questions about the state’s power grid and scrambled the Capitol’s agenda.

Patrick said the crisis prompted him to delay disclosing his priorities for a few days, so that he could readjust them to reflect new urgent issues. Its list of 31 priorities ended up being led by “ERCOT reform” and “grid stability”, ranking second and third, respectively – right after the mandatory budget.

But things changed even more for Patrick after Walker and ERCOT CEO Bill Magness appeared on state House and Senate committees in late February. The deputy governor criticized his actions in a long statement and asked them to resign, easily becoming the highest-ranking elected official to begin expanding the post-storm blame game for the PUC.

At the end of the day, Walker submitted his letter of resignation, with immediate effect.

Abbott had previously asked for the resignation of ERCOT leaders, but said nothing about PUC. After Walker announced his resignation, Abbott’s office offered a statement thanking Walker “for his years of service to the State of Texas”.

Patrick further increased the pressure on the PUC on Monday, when he called on ERCOT and the commission to retroactively reduce the market price of energy during the blackout week. The following day, Patrick received support from 28 of the 31 senators in the Legislature, who sent a letter to D’Andrea – whom Abbott had just appointed to replace Walker as president of PUC – asking him “in the strongest possible terms to immediately correct the billing errors. “

D’Andrea and PUC refused to do so, citing unforeseen consequences of meddling in an electricity market that has already been liquidated. D’Andrea stood firm on that point while Patrick questioned him for almost half an hour on Thursday night, claiming that D’Andrea had told him otherwise in a recent phone call.

In his statement on Friday night, Patrick asked Abbott to “replace Mr. D’Andrea at PUC when he fills the other two vacancies there.”

“Sir. D’Andrea’s position requires professional competence and honesty and he showed little of either at yesterday’s hearings,” said Patrick. “I believe that most Texans who attended the Senate Jurisprudence hearing would conclude that D ‘Andrea should not have full authority over ERCOT or be part of the solution to come. ”

Less than an hour after Patrick’s statement, Abbott’s office released the letter to the vice governor. In the letter, Abbott invoked his previous experience as a state Supreme Court judge and attorney general to support D’Andrea, and told Patrick that the governor “has no independent authority to accomplish the goals you pursue”.

“The only entity that can authorize the solution you want is the legislature itself,” wrote Abbott. “That’s why I made this issue an emergency item for the legislature to consider this session.”

Not every senator is with Patrick, at least when it comes to price correction. The three senators who did not sign the letter were Sens. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe; Sarah Eckhardt, D-Austin; and Kelly Hancock, R-North Richland Hills. Hancock told The Dallas Morning News that he wants to remain neutral in the debate because he chairs the Senate Business and Commerce Committee, which organized the chamber’s post-storm hearings.

Creighton’s office did not respond to a request for comment on Friday.

Meanwhile, House legislators have taken what they see as a more deliberative approach, with some promising to “have all the facts” before taking action on the issue.

During a hearing by the State Affairs Committee of the House on Thursday, State Representative Chris Paddie, a Republican Marshall who chairs the committee, appeared to be beaten up in the 28-member Senate letter asking D’Andrea to reverse the accusations.

“Before we take a stand or any of us send you individually, sir, a letter or whatever,” Paddie said to D’Andrea, “I will be very sure when I sign my name on something that I have all the facts for, and that it is necessary. “

After the hearing, Mayor Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont, said in a statement that he appreciated the committee for its “deliberative examination” of the issue and said he expected another hearing next week about the conversation.

And last week, Phelan launched the idea of ​​legislation that would create a loan fund by withdrawing money from the state savings account, which is also known as a rainy day fund. This new fund could help electricity and natural gas producers strengthen facilities against future cold weather events.

The proposal, presented on Friday by state deputy Dan Huberty, R-Houston, follows the model of the State Water Implementation Fund for Texas, known as SWIFT, which helped fuel the construction of tens of billions of dollars in new water projects in recent years.

In the meantime, it seems inevitable that the pressure on the PUC will not ease, despite Abbott’s initial efforts to protect his nominees from the aftermath of the storm.

“I think it would be difficult to reach any other conclusions,” said Doug Lewin, a climate and energy consultant. “Clearly Abbott jumped in to say it was [ERCOT], and I think … Patrick has beaten the drum that is ERCOT and PUC and really putting emphasis on PUC. “

Cassi Pollock contributed reporting.