Texas Governor Greg Abbott Blasts ERCOT, Demands Power Plant Winterization

Texas Governor Greg Abbott demanded that lawmakers make winterization of power plants mandatory under state law after four days of widespread blackouts and water shortages. Abbott harshly criticized the state’s grid manager, known as Ercot, and its chief executive officer, Bill Magness, for what he said was a failure to provide a realistic assessment of Texas’s generating capacity prior to the unprecedented cold snap. “Ercot has failed on each of these measures that they said they had undertaken,” Abbott said during a media briefing on Thursday. “Texans deserve answers.” In his sternest remarks to date on the performance of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, Abbott said the group needs to be reformed and called for a restructuring of the board and its membership. During a separate news briefing earlier in the day, Magness deflected criticism of the grid manager and growing calls for its restructuring. “If there’s dissatisfaction with how Ercot’s board governance process works, it sounds like that will be part of the review that comes after the number one priority of getting people’s lights back on,” Magness said. The Republican governor also said he has asked the Biden administration for a major disaster declaration, partly because such a measure would enable individual Texans to seek reimbursement for residential damage such as burst water pipes. President Joe Biden, in a telephone call with Abbott on Thursday evening, “reiterated that the federal government will continue to work hand-in-hand with state and local authorities in Texas to bring relief and address the critical needs of the families affected,” the White House said in a statement. Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://bit.ly/2TwO8Gm Bloomberg Quicktake brings you live global news and original shows spanning business, technology, politics and culture. Make sense of the stories changing your business and your world. To watch complete coverage on Bloomberg Quicktake 24/7, visit http://www.bloomberg.com/qt/live, or watch on Apple TV, Roku, Samsung Smart TV, Fire TV and Android TV on the Bloomberg app. Have a story to tell? Fill out this survey for a chance to have it featured on Bloomberg Quicktake: https://cor.us/surveys/27AF30 Connect with us on… YouTube:    / bloomberg   Breaking News on YouTube:    / bloombergquicktakenews   Twitter:   / quicktake   Facebook:   / quicktake   Instagram:   / quicktake