“‘I think ultimately we’re headed for an era in which my grandchildren will be driving electric cars, powered primarily by renewable energy,’ [George W.] Bush said. Oil, he said, brings economic, environmental and national-security problems.
– Kate Galbraith, “W. is for Wind,” Texas Tribune, May 25, 2010.
Let history note that Enron and Texas governors George W. Bush and Rick Perry created an industry that consumers in a free market did not. With the help of the federal Production Tax Credit of the Energy Policy Act of 1992, since renewed 13 times, as well as the $6.9 billion CREZ transmission line, Texas became the wind power state on the backs of national taxpayers and in-state ratepayers.
Bush’s “America is Addicted to Oil” reference in his 2006 State of the Union address did not come out of nowhere.…
“ERCOT: Texas Was 4 Minutes and 37 Seconds Away From a Blackout That Could Have Lasted Months” (news headline)
ERCOT centrally plans the electrical current of generation, transmission, and substations serving approximately 26 million Texans, 90 percent of the state’s load. (below)
Yesterday’s post documented why the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) is a government agency, not a private-sector institution. Nonprofit status and board “independence” cannot negate this de facto or de jure.
ERCOT, on cue from the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT), centrally plans a huge market. PUCT-ERCOT performs financial functions around the electrical current of generation, transmission, and substations serving approximately 26 million Texans, 90 percent of the state’s load. In terms of size, this composes 81,000 MW of generation (680 units), 46,550 miles of transmission, and 5,000 substations, representing 85 percent of the Texas market.…
ERCOT is chartered by government, directed by government regulation, and governed by government entities. Its funding is from a tax on electric consumers on each monthly bill. The fact that its board is ‘independent’ is a fig leaf, as is its status as a 501c4 organization.
There has been discussion a free-market circles about whether the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) is a government agency.
The answer is provided by simple facts provided by ERCOT itself. That ERCOT is chartered as “a membership 501c(4) nonprofit corporation” should not put form over substance, certainly to political economists, not to mention analysts, media, and the general public. [1]
ERCOT is chartered by government, directed by government regulation, and governed by government entities. Its funding is from a surcharge (tax) on electric consumers’ monthly bill.…