More than three-quarters of Texans support policy reforms that could help prevent a repeat of this year’s winter storm, in which almost 70% of ERCOT customers lost power, according to a new survey by the University of Houston.
However, the same report also found that most Texans oppose any proposal that would require them to pay an additional fee to fund weatherization efforts or to increase the amount of reserve electricity generation capacity.
As lawmakers debate ERCOT reform during this year’s legislative session as one of Gov. Greg Abbott’s designated emergency legislative items, they’ll receive high pressure both from an angry public, which is demanding meaningful changes at little cost to them, and from the utilities and natural gas companies that don’t want to foot the bill.
“There is considerable support of more rigorous oversight of electric utilities in Texas,” said Renée Cross, senior director of the Hobby School of Public Affairs, which authored the report, in a statement. “These proposed reforms enjoy bi-partisan support with backing by more than four-fifths of Democrats and three-fourths of Republicans in the state.”
However, Mark P. Jones, a senior research associate at the Hobby School of Public Affairs, told The Dallas Morning News on Monday that political pressure is highest on the Republican party, which has been in power since the deregulation of the Texas grid in 1999.
According to the study, almost half of Texans disapprove of Abbott’s performance during the winter storm, compared to 28% who approve. The approval rating for state government during the storm fared about the same.
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Current policy reforms on the table include requiring electricity generators to weatherize and boost their reserve capacity and for natural gas companies to weatherize to be able to participate in the Texas market. Although Texas consumers want their representatives to make utilities companies foot the bill for improvements like weatherization, and lawmakers want their approval ratings to rise, making it a tough choice, Jones said.
“Utility company lobbyists are going to be earning their salary this session to try to keep all change at the minimum and primarily cosmetic,” Jones said.
Texans, about three quarters of whom disapprove of ERCOT’s performance during the winter storm, were much more ready to push the cost of winterizing onto regulators.
“It’s notable that more than half of residents are unwilling to pay any additional amount on their monthly electricity bill to safeguard the Texas electrical grid from severe weather with only 14% willing to pay an additional $10 a month,” Jones wrote in a statement.
He added that Texans are overwhelmingly against those reforms like those proposed by Berkshire Hathaway Energy, which would require consumers to foot the bill.
Earlier this month, Berkshire Hathaway Energy, part of Warren Buffett’s giant holding company, proposed an $8 billion fix for the Texas electric grid. But, under that plan, the cost of the protection would be added to ratepayer bills in the same fashion regulated utilities are reimbursed for building and maintaining transmission lines. Total costs would be roughly divided among residential, commercial and industrial customers. According to Chris Brown, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Energy Infrastructure, residents would pay an extra $3 a month, commercial users would pay an extra $9 a month, and industrial users would pay an extra $60 a month — for 40 years.
According to Jones, the study also highlights the fact that lost power also led to loss of water for many Texas residences, when pipes burst due to frozen pipes. “That would suggest it would behoove the legislature this session to revamp the building codes to make them more climate resilient.”
However, Jones said that proposal would also face opposition from the construction lobby and realtors.
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Winter storm survey finds Texans want utilities companies to foot the bill for winterization - The Dallas Morning News
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