Fearing outages, Texas regulators consider controversial plan to boost power generation

Texas Tribune
BY KIAH COLLIER
The Public Utility Commission is considering measures to ensure Texans don’t lose power in the hot summer months. A plan generators are pushing would cost $4 billion — and lead to higher electric bills.

The warnings from the operator of Texas’ electric grid came several times: The amount of power the state’s generators were slated to produce last summer might not meet escalating demand, resulting in rolling blackouts and bloated utility bills.

That didn’t happen, despite record-setting power demand. And it’s not expected to happen next summer either.

But the Electric Reliability Council of Texas is already warning that the so-called …