Texas utility regulator ERCOT is
refusing to retroactively fix
the $16 billion that the state's
grid operator erroneously
overcharged to power companies
during last month's deadly storms.
And clearly if they overcharged
the companies,
that means that that cost is then
transferred over to consumers.
Meaning the people of Texas who had
to deal with
an indoor rolling blackouts during
frigid temperatures.
So here's what we know based on
reporting from the Texas Tribune.
Potomac Economics wrote in
a letter last week to the PUC that
ERCOT kept market prices for
power too high for nearly two days
after widespread outages ended late
the night of February 17th.
ERCOT should have reset the prices
the next day, the letter said.
And just so you guys remember the
way that the Texas power grid is
run is separate from the power grid
in the rest of the United States.
It's privatized, it's deregulated,
and more importantly, it's based on
this notion of supply and demand.
Which is a disaster situation when
you have deregulated companies or
deregulated power grid that
doesn't see the need to have
energy reserves in case
there is a situation like what was
experienced during the frigid
temperatures during that storm.
Now in Texas, wholesale prices are
determined by supply and demand.
When demand is high,
ERCOT allows prices to go up.
During the storm, PUC directed
the grid operator to set wholesale
power prices at $9,000 per megawatt
hour and that's the maximum price.
And so they get this letter from
the Potomac Economics people and
they're saying, okay, you guys
should make this adjustment so
people aren't charged or
overcharged for
the power that they received.
And the PUC Chair Arthur D'Andrea
who was elevated to chair this
week by Governor Greg Abbott and
PUC Commissioner Shelly Botkin
could have decided to order ERCOT
to follow Potomac Economics
recommendation.
A move that potentially could have
shaved billions of dollars off of
what the grid operator overcharged
power companies.
But guess what guys,
they declined to do it,
they said no.
So D'Andrea declined to and
noted that a retroactive decision
would have winners and losers.
You don't know who you're hurting,
and you think you're protecting
the consumer, and it turns out
you're bankrupting someone else.
Now-, >> Liar.
>> Of course there were no,
100% a lie.
And the reason why I say that is
because first of all, usually when
that talking point is used,
it's a lie.
But D'Andrea didn't even try to
give us a more hearty response or
some detail into what was meant in
that statement, just saying we
don't want to pick winners and
losers.
Okay, but who are the winners,
who are the losers?
Can you can you elaborate
a little bit?
And I do find it strange that no
one has asked, right?
It's just a superficial answer that
means absolutely nothing and
no one is demanding details or
asking a follow up
to D'Andrea regarding that answer.
>> Okay, so when we are discussing
a story in the production,
meaning both Hannah and
I couldn't believe it was true.
Well, I don't know if we're
going to include it in the show.
Let's read all the details and
double check because really,
they're going to just
let $16 billion in extra charges
stand after they killed some people
in the middle of this crisis.
And then they didn't have any heat,
and then they're going to put that
gigantic amount of money back onto
the consumers, and
make them pay it for the failures
of the energy companies.
And the answer is yes,
that's the current plan.
So Texas Tribune covered it well,
but they along with almost every
other outlet keep calling these
charges erroneous charges or
a mistake.
No, that's not true.
This is how the system is designed.
It's not at all a mistake.
It's a so called free market
model where if there is not a lot
of demand and a lot of supply,
your prices will be low.
But in a crisis like this where
there's a lot of demand for heat in
the middle of a winter storm and
not enough supply once some of the
lines freeze, well, you're going to
have gigantic bills that are due.
It's not a mistake,
that's how this system is designed.
And now Greg Abbott by putting in
his unbelievable liar into this
position of authority just
last week.
So this is clear, he put in
a stooge to lie to you guys.
He's basically saying no no, yeah,
we're going to keep your money,
we killed some of you, we destroyed
the whole state with our lack of
planning called deregulation.
And now we're going to add
on top insult to injury, we're
going to call it free market and
make you pay an extra $16 billion.
We didn't deliver for you and
on top of that,
we're going to say, yeah, pay more.
So the pathetic excuse that this
D'Andrea guy has is that, well,
look there are winners and
losers in this system and earlier
people might have paid less.
Presumably, he didn't even say that
part, right?
But now they're going to have to
pay what, a $12,000 bill for
one month of electricity,
a $16,000 bill.
So winners and winners and losers.
[LAUGH] He says so flippantly, you
got $12,000 laying around after you
survive the storm to get paid for
one month's electricity bill.
And-, >> Yeah.
>> The recommendation that Hannah
read to you was, no of course they
shouldn't have to pay that.
And they wouldn't be no losers from
it other than your goddamn donors
Greg Abbott.
Those would be the only quote
unquote losers, they already made
a killing off of this.
They already screwed this up, but
Abbott says no, no, no, no.
No, they are going to rob you of
every single dollar that they can.
For God's sake people and so
called journalists in Texas,
do your goddamn job man.
Tell people Greg Abbott is a crock
and this D'Andrea guy is a crock.
This time you really going to let
them pay those bills, you really
going to let them pay those.
If they try to make those pay and
God knows maybe they'll say, hey,
it's related to the government,
maybe we can put you in jail if you
don't pay those bills.
That's the kind of sick corporate
dogs run the state of Texas.
Do journalism,
point out the facts to people,
if you let them pay those bills, it
is an outrage beyond imagination.
>> Yeah, you're right Cenk because
I even mentioned erroneously, but
it wasn't a mistake.
This is the way the system does
work in Texas.
And essentially what the group
over at Potomac Economics argued
was, hey, how about we end those
exorbitant charges on February 17th
as opposed to keeping the charges
going through February 19th.
Because the emergency alert was
still taking place through
the morning of February 19th and
that was five days after the storm
had initially struck the state.
But it was still on market,
the power grid was still unstable
at that point which is why people
were still getting charged or
the companies were getting charged
that exorbitant amount,
$9,000 per kilowatt hour.
So it is how the system works, but
I really want to drive home
the point that you were making
their Cenk about how there actually
are winners and losers.
The losers are the people living in
Texas, the winners are the private
utilities, the private power
companies that get to base their
pricing based on supply and demand.
And remember there was artificial
scarcity there because these
companies refuse to do the right
thing.
Because at the end of the day,
there are companies that
are looking out for
their bottom line by ensuring that
they had energy reserves for
this type of situation.
They did not have energy reserves,
they didn't see the need to have
energy reserves because that's
in their minds an unnecessary cost
that they would rather do away with
so they can increase their profits.
And so certainly there are winners
in this story, it's just not
the people living in Texas.
It's these private companies.
>> Okay,
when they say there's nothing we
do, it's beyond outrageous.
Potomac Economics just delivered
your report on what you can do.
You throw it in the trash can,
you say no, no, no,
there's nothing we could do.
They should add without costing our
political donors money and
we're not willing to do that,
we'd rather have you pay the $16
billion instead, okay?
So of course there's something,
here's something you could do,
nobody's paying a bill above $300.
That's it,
the government can say that.
My beloved corporations can't rob
you that way.
That's right,
that's the whole point, of course
there's something you could do.
Well, and then they would counter
with hey Cenk, supply and demand.
If you have low supply, of course
the price are going to be high and
the company should be rewarded.
But wait a minute,
that doesn't make any sense.
Hannah is right.
The only reason we have low
supply is because of scarcity
of resources.
Why did we have scarcity?
because your pipes didn't work,
because you didn't take the
precaution to put in measures that
would have prevented them freezing.
You were warned a decade ago ago
to do that.
Texas chose to not regulate you.
They chose to let you basically
ride and
not have those extra costs.
So then it was your fault that we
had low supply.
Why the hell will the citizens of
Texas pay for your mistake?
That's insane, it's totally insane.
And by the way,
I'd like to note for
the record that the whole press and
partly us included we were halfway
to bit Keith Olbermann and
Michael Moore's heads off.
Because they said, my God, they're
making a hyperbolic comment about
how the citizens of Texas would
be affected about the vaccines.
Now the citizens of Texas were
killed, were not protected,
lost heat, and now are being robbed
of $16 billion, and I can't find
anybody in the press outraged.
My God, it wasn't a tweet.
It wasn't this, it wasn't that.
It wasn't scandalous.
It didn't involve sex.
It didn't involve me being outraged
at a progressive, so
I can't tell, yeah, $16 billion.
I don't know who the good guys and
bad guys are.
Well, then you suck as a journalist
if you can't tell in this super
obvious situation who the good guys
and bad guys are.
And if you don't tell them,
they keep reelecting the bad guys
who go all these suckers,
these idiots, I'm just going to
give all the money to my donors.
Why?
Because the press never told
you about the donors, they never
told you that they're clear,
look go to TYT.com, check stories.
We have one investigative story
after another, indisputable,
all backed up by public records
showing you the millions of dollars
that Republicans in Texas
have gotten from those same
energy companies that they just
gave a $16 billion gift to.
And whose pocket is it
coming out of?
The citizens of Texas.
They're actually getting screwed
and I can't find outrage anywhere.
They're too busy worried about what
Michael Moore said.