Electricity

Opinion: Griddy ‘wholesale’ pricing model iced over during the perfect storm; but there’s a way to fix it

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Houston Chronicle

Michael Davis

Griddy, the Houston electricity retailer that sent those massive bills to customers after the big snowstorm, has had a bad few days. On Feb. 26, ERCOT shut them down for non payment of bills. On the following Monday the Texas Attorney General filed legal actions accusing them of things like price gouging and fraud.

Maybe Griddy is the most corrupt business since Al Capone’s bootlegging empire or maybe they’re just a victim of unprecedented bad weather. The lawyers can sort all that out. But whether Griddy somehow survives or fails, we should all hope something very similar to the Griddy business model lives on.

Here’s why. …

Electricity

ERCOT ousts CEO Bill Magness following failure of state’s electric system

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Houston Chronicle

Amanda Drane

Bill Magness, President and CEO of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), right, arrives to testify as the Committees on State Affairs and Energy Resources hold a joint public hearing to consider the factors that led to statewide electrical blackouts, Thursday, Feb. 25, 2021, in Austin, Texas. Magness was ousted by the ERCOT board Wednesday.
Eric Gay, STF / Associated Press

The board of the of the state’s grid manager ousted its CEO Wednesday, two weeks after the failure of the state’s electric system shut power and heat for some 4 million Texas during frigid winter weather.

In a statement, the board of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, or ERCOT, said it would exercise the 60-day termination notice of President and CEO Bill Magness, who will continue to “work with state leaders and regulators on potential reforms to ERCOT” during the period. The board said it would …