What Should I Know About ERCOT and the PUCT?
ERCOT and the PUCT are two state grid regulators that oversee the Texas energy grid and make critical decisions affecting your utility bills and whether clean energy or polluting fossil fuels power your home, business, schools and community.
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT): The regulator all Texans love to hate. But don’t forget, it was Governor Abbott and the Texas Legislature, not ERCOT, who failed us in the 2021 winter storm. Let’s learn why.
ERCOT is a membership-based 501(c)(4) nonprofit corporation, governed by a board of directors appointed by Governor Abbott and subject to oversight by the Public Utility Commission of Texas and the Texas Legislature. Its members include consumers, electric cooperatives, power generators, power marketers, retail electric providers, investor-owned electric utilities, transmission and distribution providers, and municipally owned electric utilities. ERCOT manages the flow of electric power to more than 27 million Texas customers -- representing about 90 percent of the state’s electric load, and manages power flow and complex financial agreements regarding the bulk wholesale of electricity on the Texas grid.
Powerful, well-connected energy industry insiders and friends of Governor Abbott oversee ERCOT, and this embedded special interest influence at the top of the agency is helping polluters and energy corporations benefit at the expense of clean energy, battery storage, and the need for more affordable electricity for everyday working Texans. In the past, ERCOT misleadingly suggested that the grid’s near-collapse was caused by slowing wind, only to later admit it was due to clogged transmission lines. Just two months earlier, the grid operator asked Texans to conserve due to low wind, followed by information that 12 gigawatts of coal and gas power plants had gone offline. And, in alignment with the interests of big polluting corporations and Governor Abbott, ERCOT leadership continues to try to blame grid stress on much-needed EPA clean air protections.
Powerful interests are making decisions without us, and that is how they want it to stay. We want to organize with everyday Texans like you to help ensure your local elected officials and state legislators are more informed about the politics of ERCOT. Together we can organize together to make sure ERCOT addresses both rising bills and the climate crisis instead of spending its time and our tax money propping up the dying coal industry and penalizing clean energy.
The Public Utility Commission of Texas
The Public Utility Commission of Texas: An energy and utility lobbyist-dominated agency that regulates the state's electric, telecommunication, water and sewer utilities, implements respective legislation, offers customer assistance in resolving consumer complaints, and decides how the electricity market will meet a massive rising demand for power. Governor Abbott appoints the five commissioners who oversee the agency, and despite many decisions since the 2021 winter storm, PUCT commissioners have largely ignored the cheapest and quickest way to help consumers meet energy demand – reducing demand by expanding energy conservation programs, paying Texans to use less energy like we pay bitcoin and large corporations, and increasing the role of local clean energy and battery storage.
The PUCT can be influenced and pressured. Big energy corporations deploy their lobbyists to meetings every month to protect their profits and interests. We need your help to make sure everyday Texans are represented and heard. Since 2021 Sierra Club and partners have organized public presence and testimony at the PUC, and helped to secure victories like the creation of the Office of Energy Efficiency and the Office of Public Engagement.
Make your voice heard: Sign our petition.