Tag Archives: Public Utility Commission

SCOTx declines to revive oligarch nuisance lawsuit against Beto

Good. The Texas Supreme Court said Friday it would not consider Republican megadonor Kelcy Warren’s defamation lawsuit against former Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke after a state appeals court dismissed it earlier this year. The all-GOP court denied Warren’s petition … Continue reading

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Here’s the latest new area code

Hello, 621. Houston, you’re getting a new area code. On Wednesday, the Public Utility Commission of Texas announced they’ve approved the addition of 621 for the Houston area to keep up with the population growth we are seeing here in … Continue reading

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Time for another area code

We don’t know what it will be yet, but it’s coming. The last area code was added for Houston residents just nine years ago, but a new one is already calling in. What does this mean for Houston residents who … Continue reading

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SCOTx rules ERCOT can’t be sued over the 2021 freeze

A split ruling, which in my kind could have gone either way. The Texas Supreme Court ruled Friday that ERCOT, the operator of Texas’ power grid, is a government entity, granting the organization immunity to lawsuits stemming from 2021′s deadly … Continue reading

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Oligarch nuisance lawsuit against Beto finally tossed

Sure took long enough. A state appeals court dismissed Republican megadonor Kelcy Warren’s defamation lawsuit against Beto O’Rourke, ruling Friday that statements by the 2022 Democratic nominee for governor were protected by the First Amendment. The Austin-based 3rd Court of … Continue reading

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Watch out for your electric bill

Noting this for the record. As Texans continue paying off the costs of the deadly 2021 winter storm, state lawmakers are considering a Republican-backed proposal that would allow for more frequent rate hikes and prevent cities from challenging the increases. Supporters of Senate … Continue reading

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Last chance to file Winter Storm Uri lawsuits

The two year anniversary of the big freeze of 2021 is upon us, and the statute of limitations for civil actions in this sort of thing is two years, so you know what that means. When Cherrilyn Nedd left her … Continue reading

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More on the PUC’s attempt to fix the grid

From TPR: After the last big blackout, state lawmakers passed Senate Bill 3, telling the commission to improve grid reliability. So, commissioners have been working on changing the state’s electricity market. They want to reform how energy is bought and … Continue reading

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PUC makes an attempt to fix the grid

People are skeptical. The Public Utility Commission voted Thursday to make a substantial change to the state’s electricity market in a controversial effort to get the whole system to be more reliable. The agency said it will let the Legislature … Continue reading

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SCOTx to decide if ERCOT can be sued

Big decision to come. Lawyers argued before the Texas Supreme Court on Monday over whether the state’s power grid operator should be protected from lawsuits, a question that has become especially important after the deadly February 2021 freeze. Individuals and insurance companies have … Continue reading

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No, really, are we emotionally prepared for this freeze?

Ready or not, here it comes. State officials warned residents Wednesday to prepare their homes and vehicles for the coming freeze while trying to reassure on-edge Texans that the electric grid will stay online. Temperatures are expected to plummet Thursday … Continue reading

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Are we emotionally prepared for the oncoming freeze?

That’s the real question at this point. ERCOT on Friday notified power generators in Texas that they need to be online and ready to provide power during an expected wave of cold air that could drop overnight temperatures into the … Continue reading

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Beto tries again to get ridiculous defamation lawsuit dismissed

Hope he has better luck here. The gubernatorial election is over, but Kelcy Warren’s defamation lawsuit against Beto O’Rourke lives on. Warren, the Dallas pipeline tycoon, sued O’Rourke in February over accusations he made on the campaign trail that Warren … Continue reading

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Do we actually know how to fix the grid?

The evidence is unclear. Texas lawmakers and experts who study the state’s power grid aren’t thrilled with a proposal by state energy officials aimed at preventing future widespread outages such as the one during the 2021 winter storm. The Public … Continue reading

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By the way, the grid is still not fixed

In case you were wondering. A federal assessment indicates the Texas electricity grid remains almost as vulnerable to extreme winter weather as it was when it nearly collapsed during a prolonged deep freeze in February 2021 — although state utility … Continue reading

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Beto still seeking to dismiss oligarch’s lawsuit against him

Might have better luck this time around. Remember last year when Gov. Greg Abbott’s biggest donor sued gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke for defamation, slander, and libel? Well, that’s still going on. The legal fight has moved into a state appeals … Continue reading

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We’re going to have a “colder than normal” winter

What could possibly go wrong? Savor the rest of the sweltering summer because this winter in Texas is going to be “colder than normal,” according to Farmers’ Almanac. The Almanac, which has been predicting the weather outlook for farmers and … Continue reading

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More on your forthcoming phone bill increase

The Chron gets on the story. Texans who use a phone should expect to pay more for that service, thanks to a startling rate increase adopted by the Public Utility Commission of Texas last month. Commissioners in July voted to … Continue reading

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When we say “fix the grid”…

This is one of the obvious ways we could attempt to do that. The state’s High Plains region, which covers 41 counties in the Texas Panhandle and West Texas, is home to more than 11,000 wind turbines — the most … Continue reading

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Your phone bill is about to go up

Surprise! Attention all Texans who use a cell phone or landline: The Watchdog has bad news. Starting with September’s phone bill, your bill is going up. I can’t provide a specific number for you except to say that all Texas … Continue reading

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C’mon, we should get to see the city’s after-action report on the freeze

This is silly. Houston will not release its retrospective report on the 2021 winter freeze, citing a post-9/11 law shielding information that could be exposed by terrorists or criminals. The city drafted a report, called “After-Action Report/Improvement Plans for the 2021 Winter … Continue reading

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I’m sure they’ll evaluate themselves objectively

What could possibly go wrong? In October, Colorado-based E3 Consulting offered a plan for how the Public Utility Commission should redesign Texas’ deregulated power market. It produced a 44-page proposal, paid for by energy giants NRG and Chicago-based Exelon. Now … Continue reading

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How much is Greg Abbott sweating right now?

I hope it’s a lot. It should be a lot. With temperatures soaring statewide, Gov. Greg Abbott is scrambling to reassure Texans he’s closely monitoring the state’s shaky electric grid as other GOP officials vow to get back to work … Continue reading

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More on the oligarch suing Beto

From the Observer; I’m picking it up after the initial statements by Beto that got Kelcy Warren’s undies in such a wad: Free-speech advocates and many legal scholars have long decried these sort frivolous lawsuits—known as SLAPPs, or Strategic Lawsuits … Continue reading

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Beto responds to oligarch’s lawsuit

Game on. Democrat Beto O’Rourke is blasting a pipeline company executive and top donor to Greg Abbott’s re-election campaign for filing a defamation lawsuit against him as he tries to unseat the two-term Republican governor. O’Rourke’s attorney filed a legal … Continue reading

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One of Abbott’s billionaire patrons just sued Beto

OMG, this is amazing. The former CEO of one of the nation’s biggest pipeline companies and a major donor to Gov. Greg Abbott is suing Democrat Beto O’Rourke for defamation, slander, and libel for talking about his company’s role in … Continue reading

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More on Abbott’s involvement in “getting the power back on”

Also known as more from the Brazos Electric Power Co-op lawsuit against ERCOT, but that didn’t fit well in the title. The former chair of the Texas Public Utility Commission testified in court Thursday that during last year’s winter storm and blackout Governor … Continue reading

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Go ahead and blame Greg Abbott for your high electricity bills

They really are his fault. The former head of the Texas power grid testified in court Wednesday that when he ordered power prices to stay at the maximum price cap for days on end during last year’s frigid winter storm and blackout, running up … Continue reading

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In case you’d forgotten, we still haven’t fixed the power grid

It has other problems too, which we also haven’t addressed. Millions of Texans lost power in February 2021. Hundreds died as a result. Tens of billions of dollars in damages were lost. Billions were just transferred from consumers by government … Continue reading

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How the grid held up

Basically, this cold front wasn’t anything like last year’s cold front. Texas’s power grid passed its biggest test since last year’s deadly blackouts, keeping most lights on during a wintry blast. This storm, however, was far less severe than last … Continue reading

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Okay, so maybe there will be some blackouts

Oops. With freezing weather expected to hit a large portion of Texas this week, Gov. Greg Abbott on Tuesday tried to assure Texans that the state is better prepared this year than last, but said there could be local power … Continue reading

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Who’s worried about electricity in Texas?

The guy who writes The Watchdog for the DMN, for one. The people with real power in this state, not so much. I was lonely. For more than a decade, it was as if I were the only North Texas … Continue reading

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We are so screwed if there’s a real cold front

[bangs head on desk]. During Texas’ first strong cold front of the winter this past weekend, natural gas production in the state’s top energy-producing region dropped by about 25%, according to a report from S&P Global. And while the lights … Continue reading

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The final official death toll from the big freeze

It’s undoubtedly an underestimate. Texas has added 36 more deaths to the official death toll from the February snow and ice storm, bringing the total to 246 in what was one of the worst natural disasters in the state’s history. … Continue reading

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