Monday, August 15, 2016

Texas has its own power grid to stay away from federal regulation. God bless Texas!


The Texas grid is called ERCOT, and it is run by an agency of the same name — the Electric Reliability Council of Texas. ERCOT does not actually cover all of Texas. El Paso is on another grid, as is the upper Panhandle and a chunk of East Texas.
The Texas Interconnected System — which for a long time was actually operated by two discrete entities, one for northern Texas and one for southern Texas — had another priority: staying out of the reach of federal regulators. In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Federal Power Act, which charged the Federal Power Commission with overseeing interstate electricity sales. By not crossing state lines, Texas utilities avoided being subjected to federal rules. "Freedom from federal regulation was a cherished goal.

ERCOT was formed in 1970, in the wake of a major blackout in the Northeast in November 1965, and it was tasked with managing grid reliability in accordance with national standards. The agency assumed additional responsibilities following electric deregulation in Texas a decade ago. The ERCOT grid remains beyond the jurisdiction of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which succeeded the Federal Power Commission and regulates interstate electric transmission.

Bet you that Texas has more reliable power than the Northeast.

3 comments:

  1. My father has worked in the Power industry for years and is now an IEEE Fellow... He got a call one day back in the 90's (as I recall) from a FERC lawyer who was trying to find an excuse for the Feds to claim jurisdiction over ERCOT. Dad told the lawyer he was wasting both their time, it wasn't gonna happen. Glad to hear the d*mned Feds failed...

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  2. Don't even THINK of messing with Texas.

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    Replies
    1. Better still, remove yourself from the grid all together.

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