Abstract
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) is the entity responsible for overseeing the primary electric grid for most of the state of Texas. The ERCOT grid is contained entirely within Texas, serves almost 75% of the state’s land area with its 52,700 miles of transmission lines, and provides 90% of the energy used by consumers in the state. Over the last half-century, the ERCOT grid has increasingly experienced intermittency issues that have caused Texas residents major heartaches. After each event, the Texas Legislature and ERCOT have taken steps to ensure that they do not reoccur. Thus far, though, they have failed each and every time to make changes that have a sustained effect on the issues plaguing the grid. Analysis of their attempts at regulation shows that the parties consistently make the same mistakes. These mistakes include hamstringing state regulators’ ability to require power generators to make changes; not requiring generators to increase production when extreme conditions are projected; not imposing fines on energy generators whose systems fail in the times of highest need; and placing partisan individuals in positions that should be held by industry experts. Salvaging this situation does not require a complete grid overhaul. It merely requires that the Texas Legislature, ERCOT, and the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) cooperate to meaningfully regulate electric power generators in the state. This Note shows how.
Recommended Citation
Dylan Brown,
Lost in Transmission: Where ERCOT Went Astray and How It Can Find Its Way,
75 Fla. L. Rev.
1203
(2023).
Available at: https://scholarship.law.ufl.edu/flr/vol75/iss6/4