Power Co-op Files Bankruptcy After $2.1 Billion ERCOT Bill
Power Co-op Files Bankruptcy After $2.1 Billion ERCOT Bill
Some excerpts:
The group considered Texas oldest and largest electricity cooperative has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, saying it cant pay money wanted by the states grid operator in connection with power outages during a major winter storm that hit in February.
Brazos Electric Power Cooperative filed its bankruptcy petition March 1 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas. The company said it received a $2.1 billion charge from the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), the group that maintains and operates much of the states electricity grid. Brazos Electric is the wholesale energy provider for its 16-member cooperative.
Texas deregulated power market, which is not connected to other U.S. electricity transmission systems, means that most of the states power customers are not beholden to any one energy provider. Instead, customers can choose among dozens of electricity retailers on an open market.
Electricity generatorscompanies such as NRG and Vistraproduce power, which can then be sold by retail electric providers. Those retail companies include Griddy, which is being sued by the state attorney generals office for sending customers bills for as much as $5,000 for the cost of power during the weeklong storm.
State officials said they received more than 400 complaints about Griddy in less than two weeks. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in the lawsuit said Griddy deceived customers when it promised low wholesale energy prices...
Gee, isn't it amazing that Texas AG Ken Paxton is taking time out of trying to overthrow the government by committing election fraud in other people's states to pay attention to events in his own state?