Last week's Ice Storm was a
test for the Texas power grid,
showing us how it can handle
increased demand as most of the
state dealt with ice and snow.
But last week of course pales
in comparison to last year.
Lawmakers told two state
agencies to fix the grid.
One made changes while the
other dragged its feet.
The Cave you defenders found it left
us with only patchwork investigative
reporter Erica Proffer shows us
what changed after the freeze
and what still needs to be done.
Can we be? This is what Central Texas
should feel like during the winter.
Maybe a light jacket and enjoy the outdoors,
but the weather doesn't always do
what it should like from right here.
February 2021, the temperature
dropped to single digits.
Just ice homes here in Pflugerville
and throughout the state.
Lost power during the winter storm.
As much as we knew to get ready for,
we got ready for wrapping pipes trying to.
Bleed faucets stuff like that stuff. Joe
Galvan and his family knew well.
They had extra training,
but in Iraq you do a little
bit everything, but even here,
training goes so far was really terrifying.
The house hit 40 degrees on day one.
On Day 2, the family went to a friend's home,
a home without water being without water
was safer for Joe than being without
power because I had insulin
that I had to try to transport.
Insulin requires refrigeration.
A Texas Department of State Health
Services report shows 246 people.
Died due to the storm 25 people because
their medical equipment did not have power.
161 mothers, fathers, children,
grandparents froze to death.
The power was purposefully cut.
Too much demand and not enough power from
the plants to put on the grid. Feels
like we're just waiting for the
next one. Horrifying the thing.
How many more people are going
to die because of inaction?
Lawmakers had the chance to fix the
power grid more than a decade ago.
A deadly storm hit in February
2011 left millions without power.
Of days. This federal report
recommended weatherization standards.
Lawmakers didn't listen no enforcement,
weak oversight.
This time the storm hit as the
87th legislative session began.
Poor communication.
Quickly blame went all around,
and a lack of coordination
natural gas companies said power
outages dropped production power,
producers said natural gas
didn't deliver the needed supply.
They're both right. The system?
We have to be without power
for such a extended period.
The time is unacceptable.
The Texas Railroad Commission
regulates natural gas producers,
pipelines and processors.
The Public Utility Commission
regulates power plants,
transmission lines,
local distributors and retailers.
They're supposed to work hand in hand.
Nerve. An apology from the
Public Utility Commission.
The fact that you're hesitating,
lawmakers pressed PUC for answers.
Texans suffered through this event.
Bill Magness was president for
the Electric Reliability Council
of Texas at the time, or COT?
It's unacceptable.
It was his job to manage the grid.
He told lawmakers Texas was
four minutes 37 seconds away
from catastrophic blackout,
meaning no power anywhere for weeks.
Skyrocketing at the same time that
supply was going down the hill.
First gas, well, hits Bros.
Then clouds and snow crippled
solar wind turbines froze and
when power plants went down,
the natural gas side took
another crippling blow.
Same 2011 problems left
unfixed for a decade.
Here we go. A few photos.
Of the north distribution center.
Daniella Silva volunteers with
Community Resilience Trust CRT,
so this was food hot food that
we were giving out that during
the storm they found hotels for the
homeless and offered to help anyone
in Austin, anyone they could reach.
There had been a Wellness check done.
And that an elderly couple
had passed away in their home.
You're trying all of this work to
help people to literally save people.
It feels like you didn't do enough
that you didn't move fast enough.
It's like. It was just it was a
moment of desperation like we failed.
We failed.
It was a downward spiral where
gas fire caused a power failure,
caused a bigger gas failure,
caused a bigger power failure.
Michael Webber is a professor
in energy resources at the
University of Texas at Austin, so
if you don't have that first gas failure,
you can keep the gas flowing more readily.
Report showed the storm
cost Texans $130 billion,
but those who sold natural gas
made billions energy transfer alone
made $2.4 billion off the storm,
federal reports show.
Gas sellers marked up the
price of its raw fuel.
By 500 to 4000% no price cap on gas,
one of the most energy abundant spots
in the world had an energy shortage
and one of the richest places in the
world now is hit with a huge bill
that even we can't afford power,
unlike natural gas, has a cost cap.
But because of the high gas price,
Irkut allowed that power to sell
at the Max $9000 per MW hour,
it was an incentive to get power on the grid.
When the blackouts stopped.
Erkut still allowed that Max charge
to stay for an extra day and a half.
$16 billion on the backs of
anyone who pays an electric bill.
We gotta change the way we look
and we think about these things
Craig Naser with the Sierra Club.
Lonestar chapter one and lawmakers to
prioritize energy efficiency keep costs low.
Both ways are going to get wider,
so even though as the temperature gets
hotter, cold spells are gonna get colder
because the extremes are getting wider.
The legislature didn't cover energy
efficiency other than requiring
cities to use natural gas in all
lawmakers passed two dozen laws,
aim to fix power problems,
they learned some mercat board
leaders didn't even live in Texas.
Now a law requires everyone on
the board to be a Texas resident
indebted utility companies.
Can get a state backed long term
loan instead of sending the bill
straight to electricity customers.
Now everyone pays over decades.
Senate Bill Three put most of
the weight on PUC shoulders.
The Commissioners all new
had to write whether
the public Utility Commission
of Texas will come to order to
set penalties for their
side of power operations.
We implemented more reforms
in a shorter amount of time
than any other grid in the US.
We pressed PUC chairman Peter Lake
about the commission's work. The
market reliability piece is
being implemented in overtime
over the next several years.
Most importantly, the operational
reliability is in place now
PUC requires all power plants
transmission line operators and
utility companies to winterize things
like windbreaks and portable heaters.
The natural gas side of the electric
grid falls under a different agency.
Those companies did not have to winterize.
We went to those who make the rules
and question their decisions.
Part 2 airs tomorrow.
With a view defenders America proffer.