The Texas Public Policy Foundation’s Executive Director Kevin Roberts released the following statement:
“The failure of the Texas grid and the prolonged power outages that followed have taken a deep toll on Texans. As policymakers look into what went wrong and propose solutions to prevent a future crisis, it is critical that, above all, the response not make matters worse. We know the solution to a government-induced disaster is not more of the same government meddling that caused the problem in the first place. The right approach is to take steps to keep the competitive marketplace intact, discouraging a level of consolidation that would give too much power to too few entities.
“TPPF commends our state’s leaders for keeping this issue an urgent priority and welcomes Lieutenant Governor Patrick’s announcement that hearings will be held to investigate how many retail customers are facing higher power bills due to the outages. Although early reports estimated that the gross amount of price escalation at the end of the outages was $16 billion, it appears that, because the vast majority of customers are protected by a combination of fixed price contracts and market hedges, the magnitude of the problem may be much smaller. We encourage the legislature to continue to hold hearings to get to the bottom of how many retail customers are actually exposed to escalated power bills due to the outages and the specific amount of that exposure.
“We are confident that, once all the facts are in, our public officials will agree on a solution that reflects Texas values, which does not include government bailouts or changing the rules of the game after the fact and injecting mass uncertainty into the marketplace. That approach has not worked in California, and it won’t in Texas.
“Instead, Texans deserve a full and thorough understanding of how reforms will affect current and future costs, the ability to reliably generate the power Texans need, oversight and accountability in the system, and the long-term impact on the Texas economy. We have faith that the Texas Legislature will do what is right for all and not just what is good for right now.”