04.18.06
Brownouts Or Rolling Blackouts
Yesterday was the second time in two-weeks we’ve had our power go out in my area of Williamson County. The Orwellian named Electric Reliability Council of Texas or ERCOT, who is responsible for the electronic grid in Texas, explained it this way:
…the statewide shortage was caused by record-breaking heat striking at a time when as much as 15 percent of the state’s power supply was already off-line for seasonal maintenance. Then four power-generating plants shut down unexpectedly, ERCOT spokesman Paul Wattles said.
This is ironic because just this weekend there was an opinion piece in the Star-Telegram by the eminent Texas economist Ray Perryman, Power competition has benefited Texas. A couple of choice quotes are below:
Although in many states the process of opening electric markets to competition has met with challenges, Texas has clearly avoided the most serious of these problems. Even with the highly publicized instances of difficulties in states such as California and New Jersey, the overall impact of the move to competition has been positive.
[…]Texas continues to be recognized as the country’s healthiest and most successful market for retail electricity. Texans will most enjoy continued benefits from the competitive electric market if this strong, open market is allowed to stay on course.
While these are two “cherry-picked” paragraphs from a glowing review of energy deregulation in Texas, so far, it does go to prove a point. Whether or not you’ve benefited from deregulation depends on whether or not you have “reliable” electricity when you need it.