Today, the Texas Public Policy Foundation applauds Sen. Charles Schwertner and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick for making cost allocation of ancillary and reliability services a priority legislative item for the Senate by including it in Senate Bill 7. The reforms proposed will help reduce the variability of electricity supply by incentivizing generators to firm up their supply during the times when the electric grid is under greatest stress.
“Ratepayers should not have to bear the full cost of unreliable generation in the ERCOT market,” said Jason Isaac, Director of Life:Powered for TPPF. “This legislation will protect ratepayers and help level the playing field between reliable thermal generators and weather dependent variable ones.”
“While the Public Utility Commission is developing tools to improve the reliability of the ERCOT grid, existing proposals place the cost entirely on ratepayers instead of on the variable generators that are causing the need for additional reliability services,” added Brent Bennett, Policy Director of Life:Powered. “Holistic cost allocation, as put forward in Senate Bill 7, is needed to prevent runaway reliability costs and bring more balance to the ERCOT market.”
To read the full text of the bill, please click here.