Texas Gov. Abbott announces moratorium on power disconnects for nonpayment
The state’s energy grid, operated by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, is operating at full capacity again, Abbott said, but 30,000 Texans are still without power due to local issues.
UPDATED at 6:37 p.m.: Updated with more details about orders issued by the Texas Public Utilities Commission.
The Texas Public Utilities Commission will issue a moratorium for energy companies to ban power disconnections for nonpayment as many people face high electricity bills after a week of subfreezing temperatures, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced Sunday.
He said addressing those 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 guaranteeing protections for power during peak demand — in summer and winter.
“We will not end this session until ERCOT is fully winterized so we do not go through this again,” Abbott said.
The PUC, which held an emergency open meeting Sunday afternoon, said in a statement that in addition to the moratorium order, it will continue COVID-19-based requirements for deferred payment plans to customers who request them.
The commission also strongly urged retail electric providers to delay invoicing for residential and small commercial electricity providers.
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“Our absolute top priority as a commission and a state is protecting electricity customers from the devastating effects of a storm that already affected their delivery of power,” said PUC chairman DeAnn Walker. “The order and directives are intended to be temporary, likely through the end of this week, to address the potential financial impacts that are especially challenging during this extremely difficult time.”
Abbott met Saturday with legislators from both parties to discuss energy prices as Texans face massive increases in their electric bills after wholesale energy prices skyrocketed while power plants were offline.
He said lawmakers have a responsibility to protect people from spikes in their energy bills resulting from the weather.
The state’s energy grid, which is managed by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, is operating at full capacity again, though 23,000 Texans were still without power Sunday afternoon because of local problems such as downed power lines. Abbott said he expects power to be fully restored by Sunday evening or Monday.
With higher temperatures in the forecast, Texans have begun the challenging cleanup and expensive repairs from days of extreme cold and widespread power outages.
The warmup was expected to last for several days, but the thaw has revealed more burst 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 reported disrupted operations, said Toby Baker, executive director of the state Commission on Environmental Quality. Government agencies were using mobile labs and coordinating to speed water testing.
Abbott said 10 million Texans were still under boil notices, and many more were without food or water because of frozen or burst pipes. He said he had waived regulations on truckers and kitchens to allow more food deliveries to reach Texans quicker.
“We understand the enormous challenges our fellow Texans are facing,” Abbott said. “There are so many Texans, too many Texans, who have gone hungry over the last few days.”
The recent storms in the United States have been blamed for more than 70 deaths, with roughly half of those in Texas.
Deaths attributed to the weather include a man at an Abilene health care facility where the lack of water pressure made medical treatment impossible. Officials also reported deaths from hypothermia, including homeless people and those inside buildings with no power or heat. Others died in car accidents on icy roads or from carbon monoxide poisoning after they resorted to heating their homes in unsafe ways.
Fatalities also have been reported in Tennessee, Kentucky, Oregon and other states in the South and Midwest.
President Joe Biden has declared a major disaster in Texas, directing federal agencies to help in the recovery. According to the Texas Division of Emergency Management, nearly 90,000 Texans already had applied for FEMA disaster relief.
Benny Henderson, 53, takes a look at his mother apartment ceiling at Westmoreland Heights in Dallas on Saturday, February 20, 2021, where it collapsed over the kitchen due to water damage after the snow storm Uri hit Dallas this week. (Lola Gomez/The Dallas Morning News)
Abbott has ordered an investigation into the power failures while ERCOT officials defend their preparations and the decision to begin forced outages last Monday as the grid reached the breaking point.
The blackouts have resulted in lawsuits against ERCOT and utilities, including one filed by the family of an 11-year-old boy who is believed to have died from hypothermia. The lawsuits claim ERCOT ignored repeated warnings of weaknesses in the state’s power infrastructure.
Also, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton issued civil investigative demands to ERCOT and electric utility companies. His investigation will address power outages, emergency plans, energy pricing and more related to the winter storm.
