The head of the Public Utility Commission says the agency will soon start public meetings as it prepares for a redesign of the electricity market. Peter Lake answered questions from the Texas House Committee on State Affairs.
Lawmakers have asked the PUC to delay a redesign until they can review plans during the legislative session that starts in January.
During the meeting this week, Lake said the PUC is still taking input.
"We still have lots of options to consider, and we need to hear from the public," he told the committee. "At the end of the day, this is a comprehensive solution, not a band-aid."
Lake said the commission has already adopted "winterization" policies passed by the legislature in 2021 that require power plants to ensure equipment can continue working in extreme weather.
"Over the last 18 months, we would have been in emergency conditions or blackouts eight times," he says.
While power plants must have winterization policies in place, natural gas suppliers have been able to opt out.
Lake says the commission favors a plan that would maintain the current model of supply and demand. He says that would give plants that can produce power cheapest the greatest benefit.
The plan would also add incentives for generators that can come online quickly when the grid is stressed and penalties for plants that do not produce as much as promised.
Lake says wind and solar plants can provide renewable energy when wind is blowing or the weather is sunny, but as those options grow, they are displacing coal and natural gas that could continue working when renewable options are less efficient.
"It's harder and harder for them to stay in business," he says. "We want to build the reliability service you directed us to build."
"Does your plan guarantee, and I want to put that word in there today, new generation?" asked Todd Hunter (R-Corpus Christi).
"Yes, sir," Lake replied.
The PUC commissioned a study that found rolling blackouts are likely to be necessary every year and a half as a result of issues with power plants during extreme weather and population growth adding stress to the state's electric grid. Lake said PUC's proposed market changes would reduce that risk.
"By 2026, instead of expecting your lights to go out one day a year or more, you shouldn't expect your lights to go out all but maybe once a decade," he told the committee.
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