For months Texas lawmakers promised a fix to the problems that lead to the massive power outage in February, that left millions of Texans without power for days during bitter cold weather. More than 150 people died.
Texas lawmakers passed two bills before their session ended in May that call for improvements at power plants. However, one expert believes companies won't have an incentive to comply with the new measures.
Senate Bill 2 and Senate Bill 3 were both written in response to the wide-spread power outages in Texas during February's massive winter storm. They will require power plant operators to make upgrades to deal with extreme weather. But Ed Hirs, Energy Fellow at the University of Houston says this is not nearly enough.
"The issue is the incentives," said Hirs. "Sure, there's a $1-million fine if you don't winterize. But some of these guys made billions of dollars (during the storm). The payoff matrix is just wrong."
Hirs believes the Texas Legislature could have taken more significant steps to make sure the 26 million Texans covered by ERCOT have a more reliable supply of electricity.
"They really haven't done anything to address grid resiliency, and nothing they've done will help us this summer," he said.
Hirs says failing to require electric plants to winterize is a mistake, adding the bills lawmakers approved will do nothing to increase the resilience of the power grid this summer.
He says he's concerned there could be another power failure this summer, when demand is high.
Hirs says the millions of dollars in bonds approved to cover losses power companies suffered because they were not paid will ultimately be paid by taxpayers and customers.
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