Abbott Lied About Texas Having Low Electricity Prices

 From Reform Austin News

Abbott/GOP Says Electric Grid Was Fixed - It Wasn't

Last winter, the power grid in Texas failed when a worse-than-normal storm hit the state, and over 200 people died. The GOP has said it fixed the problem in the last legislative session, and Abbott guarantees that there can't be another failure of the grid. They are not telling the truth. 

At MSNBC.com, Ja'han Jones explains the situation:

In February, a devastating winter storm and freezing temperatures led to utter catastrophe in Texas. The state’s power grid nearly collapsed, more than 200 people died and millions of customers lived without power for days. But since then, the state lawmakers in charge still haven’t effectively protected the state from a repeat of the crisis.

A new report from NBC News and The Texas Tribune outlined how corporate pressure has effectively weakened lawmakers’ proposals for regulatory measures meant to ensure Texas’ power grid is fit to withstand extreme weather events. 

The main takeaway is that some Texas lawmakers created a giant loophole in a bill they passed this year that was meant to require gas companies to weatherize their systems. Specifically, legislators passed a measure including weatherization requirements for power companies, but they left it to state regulatory agencies — namely, the Texas Railroad Commission and the Public Utility Commission — to impose the mandate. Those agencies have allowed power companies to opt out of the weatherization requirements.

As a result of that loophole, Texas has made only incremental changes to avoid a repeat of a disaster in which many died and much of the state was brought to a standstill.

It’s crucial to note that the blackouts in February had a disproportionate impact on Black, Latino and low-income Texans, with many people in Black and Latino communities going days without access to electricity, gas or water.

In June, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, claimed “everything that needed to be done was done to fix the power grid” after the blackouts months earlier.

The NBC News and Texas Tribune report on Texas’ vulnerable power grid undermines his claim that the grid has been adequately prepared for future weather events. It also shows that Abbott and the Republican-led Legislature in Texas are willing to endanger people most susceptible to harm from these events — Black and Latino people — in order to satisfy corporate interests.

The Public Is Not Yet Sold On Idea Of Electric Cars

The charts above are from the Pew Research Center. They surveyed 13,749 U.S. adults between April 20th and 29th, and their survey had a 1.4 point margin of error.

It shows that the idea of buying an electric car does not appeal to a majority of Americans -- at least not yet. While they think the electric cars are much better for the environment, they think they cost too much and have doubts about reliability and the driving experience.

11 Charts From Texas Poll On The Electric Grid Failure

These charts are from the University of Houston / YouGov Poll -- done between March 9th and 19th of 1,500 Texas adults, with a 2.5 point margin of error.

 

Texas GOP Officials Are Lying To Cover Up Their Own Failures

As Texans struggled to keep warm in the midst of the winter weather disaster (and some even died), the Republicans running the state government reacted in their normal way -- THEY LIED!

They tried to blame the power blackouts on the "green new deal" (none of which has been enacted in the state), and renewable energy sources (which power companies neglected to weatherize.

Other states have much worse winter weather, and yet they don't have power blackouts because of it. That's because they have been smart enough to protect their systems from winter harsh conditions. Texas did not! They were warned a decade ago that this could happen, but the legislature just told energy producers that they could winterize if they wanted, but did not require it (so they didn't). In other words, the current disaster in Texas was predicted and preventable, but the Republicans running the state failed in their duty to protect the citizens of the state.

Here is an editorial from the editorial board of The Washington Post on the situation. They have seen through the lies of Texas GOP officials.

TEXAS’S WEATHER and power crisis continued to leave millions shivering across the state Wednesday even as the state’s Republican leaders seemingly lied about the reasons for the disaster. They blamed the blackouts on the state’s supposed overreliance on wind power and warned that transitioning to renewable electricity would spread Texas’s problems across the nation. Nonsense. 

The Texas fiasco offers many lessons about keeping the lights on — lessons that Congress and state leaders must act on in the coming months. Not among them is the need to cancel a transition to cleaner sources of energy.

Frozen wind turbines represent only a small fraction of the problem in Texas. The real failure was a lack of preparation. Wind power generally slumps during the Texas winter, so state regulators do not assume they will get much from that power source. Rather, their plans rely heavily on natural gas power plants — and they are the predominant culprits in the current emergency. Across the state, the deep freeze shut down equipment to supply and burn natural gas for electricity, just as demand for electric heating surged and as demand for natural gas for home heating spiked. Freezing also forced one of the state’s nuclear power plants offline. If the state had been more reliant on coal power, as it was a decade ago, frozen coal piles could well have led to similar power plant failures.

Natural gas plants, fuel pipelines, nuclear power stations and, yes, wind turbines can all operate in frigid temperatures. They failed in Texas because they were not hardened to withstand the sort of severe weather that struck the state this week. This was avoidable. The state saw freezing temperatures that challenged the power grid in 2011, after which the need for system upgrades and better planning was obvious. The state did too little over the next decade, and millions of Texans are now paying the price. Blaming renewables is a dishonest way to score political points and divert blame.

Humanity has no choice but to transition to cleaner sources of energy, but the build-out will require smart planning to ensure reliability. That means not only that utilities must deploy methods to store intermittent renewable electricity and that the government must invest in new interstate transmission lines to transfer energy from places where the wind is blowing to others where it is not. It also means building energy infrastructure to resist weather extremes that are likely to be more common. It is certain that heat waves, droughts and wildfires will become more frequent. Scientists are also assessing whether sudden cold snaps like the one that shut down Texas could be related to rapid polar warming, which might be disturbing frigid air currents that generally stay north.

Congress is focused on providing another big covid-19 relief bill. But as federal lawmakers craft their package, they must be sure to leave enough political and fiscal capacity to address in coming months the country’s massive infrastructure needs. That decades-overdue initiative must include an ambitious program to fight and harden the nation against climate change.

GOP Officials Must Take The Blame For Texas' Disaster

You've probably heard by now of the electric grid disaster in the state of Texas. As extremely cold temperatures, accompanied by snow and ice, blanketed the entire state, the power companies have been unable to meet the demand for electricity.

Millions of Texans have been without any electricity -- some of them for more than two days. 

This is inexcusable -- and it did not have to happen.

Our governor, and many of his right-wing cronies are trying to blame the disaster on the "green new deal" and renewable energy sources. That's a stupid and ludicrous argument. No part of the "green new deal" has been passed in Texas, and only a tiny percentage of energy in the state comes from renewable sources.

What is the real reason? The reason is because Texas Republican officials made sure that Texas had its own electric grid. They did that because they didn't want energy sources and electric producers to have to spend money to protect the system from sub-freezing temperatures. They mistakenly thought that was something Texas didn't have to worry about.

The rest of the nation is not having these problems. Why? Because they were smart enough to make sure their energy and electric sources were protected.

Texas did not do that -- and the blame must fall on the state's right-wing Republicans. They thought that squeezing more profits out for wealthy energy interests was more important than protecting the electric grid and its energy producers. They were wrong! And Texas consumers are paying the price.

Now we are hearing the cold snap was a once in a generation thing. That may have been true in the past, but probably not now. This country, and Texas, have been ignoring global climate change. This climate change is not just warming the globe, but has disrupted its weather patterns (including colder winters).

With the changing global weather patterns (due to our misuse of fossil fuels), we can't be sure this kind of cold weather disaster won't happen again for a long time. It could happen again next year, or in the next few years.

Texas must act to weatherize its energy sources and its electric grid. If the rest of the nation can dod it, so can Texas. It just requires some political will to require it. Whining about the costs of doing it should be ignored. We have listened to that whining for far too long -- and that is what has caused the current disaster.

But that is not enough. Winterizing our electric system is just a start. We must also start to take global climate change seriously -- and act to stop it. Failure to do so will just insure that more weather disasters (of all kinds) will happen in the futures, and happen more frequently.

We could start by kicking the GOP out of power in the state. They have shown they care more about the wealthy than the citizens of the state -- and that is unlikely to change.

Wind-Generated Electricity Is Slowly Growing In The U.S.

(The photo above is by John Womack, and was found at Wikipedia.)

The amount of electricity generated in the United States continues to grow. In 2012, wind power supplied about 3.5% of total electrical generation. Last year, wind power grew to 4.1% of the nation's total electrical power. That was 167 million megawatt hours (MWh) of electricity, and a whopping 80.2% of that electricity from wind power (134 million MWh) came from just 12 states. The state producing the most wind power was Texas (with about 36 million MWh), followed by Iowa (with about 15 million MWh).

Those figures are from the U.S. Energy Information Administration's Electric Power Monthly report. The two charts below show the energy output for wind power from the 12 states producing the most wind energy for one month (February of 2014, the last month for which totals are available). The top chart gives each states output in thousands of MWh, and the bottom chart shows how much each state provided as a total of the February national output of wind energy (which was 14,001,000 MWh).

This is a good start, but that's all it is. There is still plenty of room for growth in the wind power industry.

A Small Bit Of Good News About Energy

The coal industry has been running some rather disingenuous television ads recently that tout "clean coal" energy. But anyone with even a small bit of knowledge about energy knows that there is no such thing as "clean coal". Coal is the dirtiest of all the fossil fuels, and when burned produces more particulate matter and other pollutants (including the greenhouse gases that contribute to global climate change). And while the newest coal-powered energy plants pollute less than older coal-powered plants, they still produce an unacceptable level of pollution.

But here in the United States, we have a huge supply of coal and it is very cheap. For that reason, the United States still produces a large amount of the electricity generated by burning coal (and both the coal and electric industries are spending tons of money to make sure that doesn't change). They put their corporate profits before both the public's health and the preservation of the environment.

But there is a little bit of good news on this front. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) is reporting that the generation of electricity by burning coal is down this year. In the first quarter of 2011, about 44.6% of electricity generated was from the burning of coal. In the first Quarter of 2012, that has dropped to about 36%. That's a 19.3% drop in coal generation. It represents an 8.6% drop in coal generation's portion of total electric production (a figure that EIA expects to grow to about 14% by the end of 2012).

The major reason for this is the reduction in price for natural gas. The portion of total electric production done by burning natural gas has increased by nearly the amount coal generation has decreased. Natural gas is not a completely clean electricity producer, but it is much cleaner than coal and will result in less total pollution. Taking old coal plants off line and increased use of renewable sources of energy are also contributing to less coal generation. Here is how Think Progress sums up this situation:

The U.S. coal industry is facing major headwinds. The current drop in generation is mostly due to competition from natural gas. But there are other factors that will assist in pushing coal out of the electricity mix: An aging fleet of plants, cost-competitive renewables, new clean air regulations, and a strong anti-coal movement are working together to reduce the attractiveness of coal. Since 2010, plant operators have announced 106 retirements of coal facilities — representing 13 percent of the U.S. fleet, according to the Sierra Club.

The continued decline in domestic coal generation is good news for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Carbon dioxide emissions from the fossil fuel sector are expected to decline by almost 3 percent this year — continuing the 1.9 percent decrease seen in 2011. Emissions from natural gas will rise by 5.5 percent, while emissions from coal will fall by almost 12 percent.

New LED Light Bulb Goes On Sale Here

The picture above shows the new light bulb that will go on sale in the United States today. The U.S. government had challenged companies to come up with a bulb that gave out the same amount of warm light as an incandescent bulb, but was much more efficient. This bulb is Philips Electronics (from the Netherlands) answer to the challenge.

The one drawback which may inhibit sales is the price. The new bulb will sell for about $60 (although the company says it has arranged for some retailers to get a discount, lowering the price to $20 -- at least for a while). But the bulb may actually be worth the price. It will not only save electricity because it is much more efficient, but it also will last for more than 100,000 hours (about 20 years). The increase in length of service is because the bulb uses LEDs to emit the light instead of a filament (which burns out after a short time).

Will consumers pay $60 for a light bulb that lasts 20 years (about $3 a year)? We're fixing to find out.

PUC Approves Step Forward For Wind Power

Finally the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) has done something to help clean up the energy production here in Texas.   They approved building the first stretch of transmission lines (about 91 miles worth) that will be used to carry wind-generated electricity from the Panhandle of Texas to more urban areas downstate (like DFW).  

This is just one leg of the needed lines and many more miles of transmission lines must be approved and built before the renewable electricity can finally make it to the areas that need it.   But this is a good start, and every job must be started before it can be finished.   The route approved will run west and north of Amarillo.

There are some who are complaining that the lines will destroy some grassland and possibly some farmland, but the other two proposed routes were even worse.   One would have cut through a fairly well-populated area between Canyon and Amarillo, and the other would have run along the north rim of the Palo Duro Canyon State Park.   Neither of those needed to happen.

This is really a win-win situation for the Panhandle and downstate areas needing electricity.   It will prevent the building of more polluting coal-powered plants while giving consumers clean and renewable energy, and it will also bring income to landowners and new jobs to the Panhandle.   Many more wind farms are waiting for the transmission lines to be built before they can be built.

Thank goodness the actual building of the lines can now be started.

Deregulation Through The Back Door

Several years ago, power companies supplying electricity to many parts of Texas were deregulated by the Texas legislature. The Republican legislature promised Texans that the move would result in more competition and lower prices for consumers. They could not have been more wrong!

Before the deregulation went into effect, Texas has some of the lowest consumer electricity rates in the nation. Currently, Texas electrical rates are among the highest in the nation. And it's not because electrical rates have gone down in the other states. The much-vaunted Republican myth of competitive rates simply didn't happen. Instead, the power companies have taken advantage of deregulation to exorbitantly raise their rates.

But there are still a few parts of Texas where electrical rates are still regulated. In the Panhandle, the rates are regulated by the cities. The rates for consumers cannot be raised without city approval. In fact, Amarillo and several other Panhandle cities have just denied a rate increase to Xcel Energy.

In Austin, however, the power companies are trying to pull off an end run around regulation. American Electric Power Company is currently in talks with the Republican-dominated Public Utilities Commission (PUC). They want the PUC to approve "alternative rate-making methodologies" to let the power companies recover "certain costs".

In plain english, this would allow the companies to get around regulations by tacking on extra charges above the approved rate. Amarillo city-staffers say, "There is a significant risk that the adoption of any of the proposed truncated, rate-review mechanisms will be just 'stage one' of an effort to completely eliminate effective regulation of the rates of monopoly electric utilities."

I would go further. It would be the end of regulation, because the company can always make sure the "certain costs" will jack up the bill to whatever rate they want to charge, regardless of what the cities want. Several Panhandle cities are preparing to hire an attorney to fight the new measures. I hope they do.

These power companies cannot be allowed to achieve electric deregulation through the back door after it has been denied at the front door.

The Failure Of Electric Deregulation

In their infinite wisdom, the Republicans in the Texas Legislature deregulated many electricity companies in Texas a few years ago. At the time, Texas had some of the lowest electricity rates in the nation. But the legislators assured Texans that the deregulation would result in even lower rates because of competition. They were wrong.

Those Republican legislators were either incredibly stupid or they were bought off by the electric companies. Since deregulation, the price of electricity has done nothing but get more expensive every year.

It has gotten so bad that Texas now has some of the highest electric rates in the United States. "Competition" has given the electric providers exorbitant windfall profits instead of the promised lower prices for the consumers.

Consumers today are subjected to contracts written in language a lawyer couldn't decipher, companies promising low prices and then going out of business, and companies promising one price but charging another higher price.

The Public Utility Commission (PUC) has proposed some rules changes that it hopes will solve some of these problems. The changes they propose would require:

Clear language in electricity marketing materials and contracts as well as an end to "fraudulent, unfair and deceptive" promotional techniques.

Consent by consumers for any plan changes.

An end to automatic renewals.

Plans must be one of four types: guaranteed fixed price; limited fixed price that allows some changes; indexed price that is tied to other rates; and variable price that allows rates to change.

All contracts must be offered in English and Spanish.

Any vagueness in a contract will be construed to favor the consumer.

These are good changes and they should be made, but they will not solve the problem of skyrocketing electric rates in Texas. There is only one thing that can do that -- th regulation of all Texas electric providers.

These companies have shown us they cannot be trusted to operate fairly when deregulated. It is time the legislature acted to correct their mistake of deregulation. The only problem is that the Republican lawmakers are in the pocket of the big energy companies (and most other large corporations).

This makes it important to vote for Democrats in state legislative races in the coming election. They are the only ones that can be trusted to put the consumer first.

Bend Over Texans -- Full Deregulation Is Near

I'd warn you to grab your wallets and hang on tight, but that won't do any good. You might as well just bend over, because you're fixing to get screwed and there's nothing you can do about it. On January 1st, the electric producers in Texas will be fully deregulated.

That means they will no longer have to get approval of the Public Utilities Commission to raise your electric rates. We already have some of the highest electric rates in the nation, and that's with the companies having to get approval from the PUC. What do you think will happen now that they can charge whatever they want without asking anyone for permission?

I still can't believe the dunderheads in our Texas legislature actually thought deregulation would bring lower prices. Here in North Texas, TXU has a virtual monopoly in electric production. That means they can keep the wholesale price of electricity abnormally high for it's competitors.

Since the competitors must buy their electricity from TXU and resell it to consumers, this gives TXU not only a monopoly in electric production, but also a monopoly in the sale of electricity. All our mentally-challenged legislators have done is give a monopoly the right to set it's own prices. And it's pretty much the same in other parts of Texas.

I know there are some legislators making noise about doing something about our high electric rates, but you'd be making a mistake to hold your breath waiting for this to happen. For one thing, legislators have already said that re-regulation is "off-the-table". For another, electric companies will flood Austin with more lobbyists than there are legislators. If you really think our brain-dead legislators will bring down electric rates, I've got a few bridges I'll sell you real cheap.

Anything as important to modern life as electricity should be controlled, if not actually owned, by the government. Yes, I know that is a socialistic idea. But it is also the only way to keep electric rates down to reasonable levels. The only alternative is to allow a monopoly to charge whatever it wants.

TXU made over a billion dollars in profit last year. Just imagine what that profit figure is going to be for 2007!

So bend over and grab your ankles Texans -- I doubt if they'll even bother to break out the lube.