In a tweet, State Sen. José Menéndez, D-San Antonio, called for the firing or resignation of the CEO and board for the organization that oversees Texas’ electrical grid.
His demand comes as at least 2 million Texas households are without power because the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) was unable to meet demand during the ice storm now paralyzing the state.
Utilities such as San Antonio’s CPS Energy have been forced to institute rolling blackouts to help stabilize the grid. Some residents have been without power since early Monday.
During an appearance Tuesday afternoon on Texas Public Radio, Menéndez said his office has received calls from constituents in their 80s and 90s facing medical emergencies due to their lack of electricity.
“Texas has never made the decision to spend more on getting redundant power,” he said, adding that ERCOT currently has little ability to buy power from surrounding states.
On Tuesday afternoon, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued a statement calling the outages “unacceptable.” Abbott, a Republican, pledged to make ERCOT reform a top priority during the current legislative session.
Menéndez told TPR the governor’s call is long overdue. ERCOT faced a storm of criticism in early 2011 after blackouts that resulted when generating plants were unable to keep up with winter demand.
“I’m glad the governor called this an emergency,” he said. “It should have happened 10 years ago.”
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This article appears in Feb 10-23, 2021.