Gov. Abbott demands answers over winterization of energy systems
UPDATE: Governor Abbott held a last-minute summit Saturday with 11 lawmakers who say they want to intervene in reports of Texans facing skyrocketing energy bills in the wake of the winter storm.
No details about how that might be done were made public, but the general consensus seems to be that both Republicans and Democrats will be working together to make sure Texans aren't kicked while they're down by having to face ridiculously high electric bills - especially those who didn't even have service for days.
Governor Greg Abbott called out the Electric Reliability Council of Texas this Thursday in a press conference.
“What happened is absolutely unacceptable and can never be replicated again,” Abbott said during the conference.
Texas generates most of its electricity through natural gas, wind, coal, and nuclear power. All of these industries were not properly prepared for the low temperatures and therefore have been producing significantly less power.
With millions of Texans being forced to go without power during this winter front, everyone is wondering, why? How do more northern states make it when then have to deal with harsh winters every year?
Well, Texas has not seen weather like this in a very long time and because of this nobody bothered to invest in equipment to keep these systems running. The consequences of this were wind turbines freezing in place, a nuclear power plant being forced to shut down for a time, and natural gas production decreasing drastically.
Gov. Abbott attacked the ERCOT, saying that they failed on their promise that they would still be able to produce enough power during the winter storm. He also said it was their responsibility to check in and make sure that all power systems were properly winterized and adequately prepared for the extreme weather.
Dan Woodfin, ERCOT’s senior director of system operations, said that they are gathering all the data they have to figure out where the exactly problem occurred and why it lasted for so long. This happens before a meeting on February 24th between ERCOT leaders and congress to determine the problem.
As of now the number of Texans without power has decreased to 325,000 with the ice and snow starting to melt away.
More From KLTD-FM
