Thread by @douglewinenergy

@PUCTX meeting starts in a few minutes (9:30CT). Lots of agenda items, including one (#52373) on the future of the ERCOT electric market w/ major customer cost and reliability implications. I'll tweet about it here.
Livestream here: adminmonitor.com/tx/puct/open_m…
#txlege #txenergy

I put together two threads on the staff memo with the proposed changes.
For reference, the memo is here: interchange.puc.texas.gov/Documents/5237…
Explanation of Phase 1 proposals here

https://twitter.com/douglewinenergy/status/1469469726250311681

Explanation of Phase 2 proposals here:

https://twitter.com/douglewinenergy/status/1471188610363838466?s=20

#energytwitter

There are lots of members of the public in the room with what appear to be paper mache power lines (hard to tell from the feed). Public comment period was changed to 10:30, would normally be at 9:30.

Market design changes will be discussed at the end of the meeting.
#txlege

Discussion about Project 51830 which would ban indexed retail plans. Cmsr McAdams is proposing a change and there's a discussion about how to make sure all the new Ancillary Services costs in the blueprint (ECRS, FFRS, BRS, etc.) don't get pushed to customers...

It's a little bizarre because customers will, of course, pay those extra costs one way or another.

The question really is how to protect customers from direct exposure to high ancillary services costs.
Docket is here:
interchange.puc.texas.gov/search/filings…

The problem is if you mandate fixed costs, while the companies serving customers have lots of variable costs, you can--with the best intentions--cause a market to meltdown and smaller players to go under. This is an inherent tension in competitive markets.

McAdams says Sam Newell of Brattle says we need 25GW of winter backup ancillary services (my note: only if we don't require winterization of gas supply!) & 3.9GW of ECRS. Retailers will have to recoup costs somehow.

Lord, if it's 25GW of winter AS it's going cost billions.

Here's some views of the protesters

https://twitter.com/CaitlinSmithATX/status/1471507735611019282?s=20

https://twitter.com/maggie_glynn1/status/1471506718462918664?s=20

https://twitter.com/tkleckner1/status/1471507907237724178?s=20

Item #52287, the Power Outage Alert System under discussion now. This implements Section 1 of SB3.

interchange.puc.texas.gov/search/filings…

Order approved for @XcelEnergyTX to convert the Harrington coal plant to gas. End of a long process that will result in emissions reductions.
interchange.puc.texas.gov/search/filings…

amarillo.com/story/business…

Also approved an @EntergyTX proposal for a new gas plant with some ability to use hydrogen.

reuters.com/business/energ…

Public comment now begins. Craig Nazor is up first. Says he had a lot of time to think about the grid over 4.5 days without power and water. Says #climatechange is causing more extreme weather. Calls for more #energyefficiency even though it won't be popular with energy producers

Comments are limited to 2 minutes. Next up is Dr. Stephanie Thomas who also spent several days w/out power. "You need to hear the voice of the public"

Not sure this @PUCTX has heard directly from the public like this before

tune in here adminmonitor.com/tx/puct/open_m…
#txlege #txenergy

Next is Ken Flippin, also had damage to his home. He says demand & supply are both important. Says had we implemented more #energyefficiency years ago, problems would have been far less in Feb. Says wasted energy is profit for energy companies. Wants PUC to focus on the public.

Daniella Silva says she organized to help unhoused get to hotelst hen tried to help people get needed supplies. "The most vulnerable will be hardest hit by future storms... wealthy will get generators but most can't afford them." Calls on them to listen to public more.
#txlege

Next up is Adrian Shelley w/ Public Citizen. Notes the 4,000 petitioners who took time to register their opinions. Says investments in #energyefficiency are investments in people. People had to burn furniture in Feb. Sealing the home, right sizing heat, (cont.)

....putting insulation in the attic would make a massive difference. Let's put the focus on people.

Marlene Plua addresses the Commission in Spanish. My understanding is very limited but I believe she called for more public input and energy efficiency.

Commissioner Cobos responded in Spanish.

I missed the next speaker's name but he tells how he and family moved around to various family member's homes and each one subsequently lost power and then water. "It was very stressful... w/ climate change being a reality we need infrastructure to mitigage climate disasters"

Elian Lopez also lost power and water. She is disabled and w/ no power or water and running out of food, she had had to go on foot 4 miles to the nearest grocery store. Wants public well being prioritized over profit. urges more investment in sustainable resources.
#txlege

Jonathan Lowell emphasizes importance of demand side resources like energy efficiency. Also calls for more public input. Notes that the Chair saying there's a lot of public input today is strange and says there's only a few dozen, more would like to be heard.

Susan Lipman says she got off easy bc she was on a circuit w/ critical infrastructure. Wants public hearings around the state and to be held in English and Spanish. She mentions Carrizo Comecrudo tribe which suffered during the storm but helped neighbors anyway.

I missed next speaker's name but says her granddaughter was terrified during the storm. She's in tears and calls for the PUC to provide better avenues to the public to participate and for #energyefficiency. Says she has fixed income and can't afford a generator.

Dr. Susanna Carranza wants focus on Texans not on companies that failed Texas in Feb. "It is shameful that Texas had a warning in 2011 and mostly ignored recommendations... costs will be pushed to the public and the public needs more opportunity to comment... (cont)

Texas is a huge state. Should have potential for remote testimony.
#txlege

Rick Galvan, student at UT Austin from San Antonio and says it's not fair that San Antonio residents will have to pay higher prices. Says #txlege didn't do enough to help people. Urges potential for remote testimony and more public input.

Next testifier says he hears lots of talk about money but not enough talk of the 700 people who lost their lives. Wants focus on lives and people not profits.

Next speaker notes that one commissioner is looking at their phone and not actively listening. She says she feels sad at the lack of attention for people... says their is "lack of care for people and only care for money."

Next up, Chelsea Tobin. Wants to ensure that what happened in Feb never happens again. Cites PUC mission statement "to be accountable to the people of Texas." Says if you are accountable, listen to us. Fix the grid with people focused solutions. Include us in decision making.

Tanya Benavidez also addressed the @PUCTX in Spanish. Commissioner Cobos again replies in Spanish.

Jacquelyn Santayana comes from a low income family and this event was life threatening. Had to go to neighbors house & couldn't reach her family in the #RGV, worried her dad couldn't get dialysis. She cried herself to sleep each night.

This is bracing, vital testimony.

(cont.) She's in tears. Santayana had to receive mental health servcies bc of trauma suffered during the storm and says even talking about causes her more pain and anguish

Asks for analysis of equity disparities in how outages occurred.
#txlege

James Talen emphasized many of the smae points. Girlfriend has diabetes and worried about being able to get insulin.

@PabstBlasts says there are 3500 petition signatures they're delivering. Notes that gas companies made $11b in that one week while people froze.

Pabst says freezing gas wells were the primary cause. After 2011, they told us it was fixed. "In February we learned that was false. Don't make us put money into the pockets of gas and coal companies that failed. We need solutions we can feel... we need insulation in our homes"

Shane Johnson with @TexasSierraClub says #energyefficiency will help solve the problem. Says a 1% goal would have reduced outages by 50%.

Public input has been "shameful and nonexistent." Invite only workshops are not OK.

Johnson notes bills are going up already from securitization. Says analyses show increases from PUC decisions could add hundreds of millions and billions. Says don't make any decisions until you've had more public input. "Be accountable to the people of Texas."

Amber England says she's never given public input and is shaking but not like she was during the freeze without power. She asks that those who failed in Feb "aren't allowed to write the rules" for the market redesign.

That's the end of the list of people signed up to speak. Chair Lake says he "appreciates all the public comment and discourse." PUC recessed until 12:30pm.

Wow, that was literally the first time the @PUCTX, as an institution, heard from the public at anything close to this scale

A reminder that Cmsrs could learn from their predecessors & have a robust process for public input. Last time the market was redesigned, the PUC listened to the public over 16 days in 8 different cities (!). Described here by @asherprice & @KateGalbraith texastribune.org/2013/09/17/boo…

@MoseBuchele also covering the @PUCTX open meeting here:
#txlege

https://twitter.com/MoseBuchele/status/1471520323388456964?s=20

@edwonkkimmy created a list of those tweeting about the hearing:

https://twitter.com/edwonkkimmy/status/1471531135104696324?s=20

And they're back.

They pick up with the 51830, the banning of indexed rates in HB16 from the regular session.

interchange.puc.texas.gov/search/filings…
#txlege

I'm not going to go into detail on this project/rule (51830) but this is a fascinating case study of the tension between a free market with little regulation and customer protection. This is a pretty big increase in regulation for retail electric providers in Texas, (cont.)

If REPs want to pass through new ancillary services costs, they will have to ask the Commission for permission. This kind of added regulation is notable and would have been almost unfathomable pre-February.
#txlege #energytwitter

PUC approves rules passed at ERCOT this year with no discussion. I believe this was an added requirement from SB 2 or SB 3 that the Commission would have to review all ERCOT rules.
interchange.puc.texas.gov/search/filings…

Now they'll approve transmission in the #RGV. This is a big deal & the @PUCTX & particularly Cmsr Cobos have done great work on this. We need infrastructure in this state and this project is needed. It will cost $ but benefits will far exceed cost #txlege
interchange.puc.texas.gov/search/filings…

Director Gleeson will file in 52404 the report required by SB3 for the Electricity Supply Chain Mapping Committee. They will have a work session in January and encourages those with comments to file them there.

Critically important docket here:
interchange.puc.texas.gov/search/filings…
#txlege

Gleeson also says PUC has opened project #52964 for utilities to put contact info so that critical infrastructure can be registered by Jan 15 deadline as required by RRC and PUC rules.
#txlege #txenergy
interchange.puc.texas.gov/search/filings…

Now onto the market redesign. Chair Lake calls Feb event a "seismic event" in Texas history.

Goes on to talk about "intermittent renewables" even though FERC/NERC told us gas supply and gas plants were #1 and #2 biggest causes of February outages.
#energytwitter #txlege

Chair Lake says you can turn on gas when you need it. (couldn't during the storm though)

He says dispatchable sources incl. thermal, hydrogen, hydro, biomass & "most importantly, accountable demand response." Says we need to quanitify and assign value to #demandresponse

Cmsr Cobos reminds everyone she was at @OPUCTX before becoming a Commissioner and says actions taken at PUC will increase reliability.

Cmsr. McAdams quotes Churchill: "this is not the end; it is only the end of the beginning." Apt.
#txlege

Cmsr McAdams talks briefly about this memo related to changing interconnection queue:
interchange.puc.texas.gov/Documents/5237…

He says it was improved by consultation with Cmsr. Glotfelty, who says they need generators to let them know when there are interconnection problems.
#txenergy

Chairman Lake begins talking about the "blueprint." He wants a vote on it today.

Vote would be for:

-ORDC changes by Jan 1 2022, all other phase 1 actions asap.

-Evaluate phase 2 and file report by Jan 10

summary of blueprint here

https://twitter.com/douglewinenergy/status/1471500304273199109?s=20

Jan 10 is a report is a project plan for implementing all items w/ synergies for implementation among the various pieces, incl. changes to IT systems needed incl estimate of time each action will take; HR needs for implementation; description of impediments

Wants ERCOT to prepare NPRRs (nodal protocal revision requests) and file with the Commission for approval. Wants PUC staff to work with ERCOT on implementation.

Y'all correct me if I got something wrong.

These are massive changes that "cost a lot of money" says Cmsr Glotfelty. We "need the industry to deliver" a more reliable system. He says regulatory uncertainty stifles investment. "We want investment in #demandresponse, dispatchable resources and renewable resources."

Glotfelty says we have to remember the costs are not our money, this is Texans' money.

Also says there is demand response and energy efficiency in the memo.

This is true but the memo says improve performance, not increase size.
#energytwitter

https://twitter.com/douglewinenergy/status/1469469757904764930?s=20

There is a motion to approve all Phase 1 items in the memo. Passes unanimously.

Described here

https://twitter.com/douglewinenergy/status/1469469726250311681?s=20

Now onto Phase 2. Commisison's directive is to PUC & ERCOT to develop needed inputs, specifications & metrics ERCOT would need to build & design the two products: load side reliability mechanism and backstop reliability service by Feb 15 (the one year anniversary of the outages)

Still no directive for any analysis of what these massive changes would cost apparently.

#txlege #txenergy

This is going to be a near impossible task for staff without more policy guidance. The elements of Phase 2 are extremely vague (no size, the LSRM contains two totally different proposals, etc.)

This is ...strange.

Also confused, maybe a lawyer can help me, can they pass all the phase 1 items without any actual formal rulemaking?

Or was the directive to publish rules for publication on each element in Phase 1. I think under the Admin Procedures Act they must undego formal rulemaking

Cmsr Glotfelty says we need more analytical work on the DEC proposal and LSEO proposal. Says he has met with top modelers at national labs. Says he has not 100% sold on those proposals yet but wants to study and analyze them.
#energytwitter

Cmsr McAdams wants technical experts at ERCOT to answer some of the questions and specifics so that then analyses can be done. He echoes Glotfelty says he doesn't want to make any decision without analysis on impacts of costs, competition, and ERCOT energy-only market design.

Cmsr Cobos echoes both Glotfelty and McAdams and says need analysis to properly evaluate the proposals.

Chair Lake makes a motion which passes and prioritizes the Backstop Reliability Service over a Load Side Reliability Mechanism

And with that meeting is adjourned.

I'm surprised at how little discussion there was, only about 35 minutes start to finish.
#txlege #txenergy