THE PROBLEM IS VOTES, NOT VOLTS:

The Texas Public Utility Commission, fully reconstituted with new appointees by Governor Greg Abbott since last February, is still working on creating a model for revamping its regulations that govern the state's electricity market, but no final rule has yet been proposed. The PUC's new chairman, Peter Lake, recently told the Dallas Morning News that he plans to introduce a "strawman" soon that will serve as a starting point for negotiations over revised rules. That's great, but comes far too late to protect consumers through this coming winter.

Whether new regulations will ultimately impose any real requirements for winterization of existing facilities and demand or incentivize the building of much-needed new thermal generating capacity on the state's grid is something no one is able to currently guarantee. This is the reality Texans face today as the coming winter approaches. It is a reality that reflects the state legislature's latest lost opportunity to correct chronic issues impacting the grid that have been well-known for many years.

The process that Texas policymakers have engaged in since last February's winter storm event is basically a carbon copy of the process that took place in the wake of the state's previous Big Freeze event that hit the state in February of 2011. 

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