Solutions to Strengthening the Texas Electric Grid
Solutions to strengthening the grid need to do three things: stabilize the grid, not pollute, and keep bills as low as possible for hardworking, everyday Texans. Policies that don’t achieve all three things don’t serve the people of Texas. For example, using Texans’ hard earned money to subsidize new climate-polluting power plants would not achieve these goals because these power plants have proven to be unreliable during extreme weather, increase our electric bills, and worsen the climate crisis.
The following solutions can achieve all three goals, and do not require major technical overhauls of our electricity system. We just need our state’s decision makers like Governor Abbott, his appointees at ERCOT and the Public Utilities Commission, and private utilities like Centerpoint, AEP and Oncor to act:
- Invest in a modern electric grid by developing regional microgrids that empower communities to meet their own energy needs, expanding the use of local clean energy and battery storage resources that can provide pollution-free backup power, burying power lines where it makes sense to reduce outages caused by falling trees or high winds, and making high voltage transmission systems stronger.
- Pay Texans the same way wealthy corporations are paid to use less electricity when energy conservation calls are made. Right now, entities like crypto miners and data centers are financially reimbursed when they turn off their machines. For Texas families, we get no such compensation for conserving energy. That should change. By compensating Texas families, we would encourage more conservation when grid conditions get tight, lower bills, and reduce the need to run polluting power plants.
- Increase investments in energy savings programs that lower electric bills, make homes more resilient to extreme temperatures, and reduce stress on the grid. The most affordable investment utilities can make to meet electric demand is energy efficiency. These are programs that help people upgrade the insulation, windows, HVAC systems in their homes. These programs lower bills not just for the home that uses the program, it lowers bills for their neighbors too. Because energy efficient homes need less energy, they also reduce pollution from power plants, and reduce the demand on the grid.
- Remove anti-renewable energy policies that have made it harder to develop solar power and energy storage. Building more renewable energy is a solution that meets all three goals. However, in the last few years, Governor Abbott, ERCOT, the PUC and others have pushed for rules that make it harder to add more solar and wind to the grid. So the “solution” needs to be to remove those anti-renewable energy rules so we can add more clean energy to the grid.
- Responsibly transition away from climate-polluting power plants in Texas. Climate change is making Texas weather more dangerous and our utility bills more expensive. To make matters worse, many power supply problems in ERCOT have been due to aging, clunky, climate-polluting power plants. Investments in a resilient, modern electric grid must prioritize reliability, affordability, and clean energy technologies while ensuring that workers in older power plants are not abandoned in a transition to a new energy system.
Who can make these changes? It starts with you speaking up and being heard. The policies described above can be adopted through a mix of action from the Governor, legislators, the PUC, ERCOT, and the electric utilities they regulate.
The Keep the Power On Campaign is a focal point to rally public support collectively so that these decision makers hear loud and clear: Texans want these changes made!