Texas Governor Abbott Announces Moratorium on Power Disconnections for Nonpayment

UPDATED at 18:37: Updated with more details on orders issued by the Texas Public Utilities Commission.

The Texas Public Service Commission will issue a moratorium on energy companies to ban power outages for non-payment, as many people face high electricity bills after a week of sub-zero temperatures, announced Texas Governor Greg Abbott on Sunday.

He said dealing with these high bills and the failure of the state’s power grid are priorities for Texas lawmakers, adding that he will not allow the legislative session to end without securing energy protections during peak demand – in the summer and In the winter.

“We will not end this session until ERCOT is fully prepared for winter, so we will not be going through this again,” said Abbott.

PUC, which held an open emergency meeting on Sunday afternoon, said in a statement that, in addition to the moratorium order, it will continue with the requirements based on COVID-19 for deferred payment plans for customers who request them.

The commission also strongly urged retail electricity providers to delay billing for small residential and commercial electricity providers.

“Our top priority as a commission and state is to protect electricity consumers from the devastating effects of a storm that has already affected the power supply,” said PUC President DeAnn Walker. “The request and guidelines should be temporary, probably until the end of this week, to address the potential financial impacts that are especially challenging during this extremely difficult period.”

Abbott met with lawmakers from both parties on Saturday to discuss energy prices, as Texans face massive increases in their electricity bills after wholesale energy prices soared while power plants were shut down.

He said lawmakers have a responsibility to protect people from spikes in their energy bills resulting from the climate.

The state’s power grid, which is run by the Texas Electric Reliability Council, is operating at full capacity again, although 23,000 Texans were still without power on Sunday afternoon because of local problems, such as interrupted power lines. Abbott said he expects power to be fully restored by Sunday or Monday night.

With higher temperatures in the forecast, the Texans began the challenging cleaning and expensive repairs of days of extreme cold and general lack of energy.

The warming was supposed to last several days, but the thaw revealed more broken pipes, adding to the list of problems after many communities were warned to boil tap water before drinking it because of problems that can cause contamination.

Nearly 1,500 public water systems in Texas have reported disrupted operations, said Toby Baker, executive director of the State Environmental Quality Commission. Government agencies were using mobile laboratories and coordinating to speed up water testing.

Abbott said 10 million Texans are still under boiling warnings, and many more are without food or water because of frozen or broken pipes. He said he waived truck and kitchen regulations to allow more food deliveries to reach Texans more quickly.

“We understand the enormous challenges that our Texan colleagues are facing,” said Abbott. “There are so many Texans, many Texans who have been hungry in the past few days.”

Recent storms in the United States have blamed more than 70 deaths, with about half of them in Texas.

The deaths attributed to the climate include a man at an Abilene health center, where the lack of water pressure made medical treatment impossible. Authorities also reported deaths from hypothermia, including homeless people and people inside buildings without power or heating. Others died in car accidents on icy roads or from carbon monoxide poisoning after unsafe heating of their homes.

Fatalities have also been reported in Tennessee, Kentucky, Oregon and other states in the South and Midwest.

President Joe Biden declared a major disaster in Texas, ordering federal agencies to assist in the recovery. According to the Texas Emergency Management Division, almost 90,000 Texans have already applied to receive help from FEMA.

Abbott ordered an investigation into the power outages, while ERCOT officials defend their preparations and the decision to initiate forced outages last Monday, when the network reached the breaking point.

The blackouts resulted in lawsuits against ERCOT and utility companies, including one brought by the family of an 11-year-old boy who is said to have died of hypothermia. The lawsuits claim that ERCOT ignored repeated warnings of weaknesses in the state’s energy infrastructure.

In addition, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton issued civil investigation demands to ERCOT and electricity companies. Your investigation will address power outages, emergency plans, energy prices and more related to the winter storm.

Team writer Nataly Keomoungkhoun contributed to this report.