TX House Speaker Announces Electricity Reform Bills

(Austin, TX) — Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan is unveiling a series of bills meant to reform the state’s power grid.

One bill will let the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and House Speaker appoint previously unaffiliated Electric Reliability Council of Texas board members and add an ERCOT board member focused on consumer interests. There are also bills requiring winterization of power plants and natural gas infrastructure.

A separate bill would ban variable rate utilities like Griddy. Griddy customers have complained about sky-high bills followings last month’s winter storms. ERCOT removed the company, which bases rates on wholesale energy prices, from the Texas market days later.