No Zombie Gas Plants

[UPDATE: ERCOT announced on Nov. 17, 2023, that it is scrapping its plan to bring back mothballed and de-commissioned power plants! The best solutions to strengthen are grid are still not getting attention, so please send a comment to them today!]

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) has made an astonishing request to bring shuttered, polluting gas and coal plants back from the dead.

This could lead to more pollution in frontline communities. Why would Texas do this when we have more affordable, cleaner, and faster options to reduce stress on the electric grid?

Halloween is over. Tell the PUC to stop ERCOT’s zombie power plant efforts and instead invest in clean alternatives.

Hopefully, the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT), which oversees ERCOT, will steer us away from this bad idea. However, one mothballed gas plant has already announced a bid to come back from the dead: Talen Energy’s Barney Davis gas plant near Corpus Christi.

Solutions to strengthen our electric grid need to do three things: 1) Strengthen the grid, 2) Lower energy burden on Texas families, and 3) Not pollute our air and water. ERCOT’s plan is not the way. What is the way? Energy efficiency programs help thousands and thousands of Texans weatherize their homes so they don’t waste energy. Demand response programs pay customers for reducing energy consumption. Both solutions should be prioritized ahead of more fossil fuel power plants.

Texas can do this! The American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE) identified 10 programs that could reduce summer peaks by about 15,000 MW and winter peaks by about 25,300 MW through targeted investments over the next six years.

Send the PUC a message urging them to prioritize customer-first solutions to our power grid problems.

Until the PUCT, ERCOT, and the Texas Legislature take the demand side more seriously, we will continue to face emergency situations.

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Project 55633: Winter Preparedness Work Session 2023 for 2023-24 Peak Load Season.

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I pay my electric bills in the ERCOT market and I am very concerned about ERCOT’s plans that could increase my bills.

Recently, ERCOT announced that it would be asking for proposals to generate up to 3,000 MW of power capacity, principally by bringing back old gas or coal plants, because of concerns about having enough supply to meet demand this winter. They also included paying larger electric customers to turn off their power through demand response in this request. These solutions could be very costly, lead to more pollution and would be done outside the normal market. Instead, I ask you to take more feasible and affordable action that will give residential and small business customers the chance to lower demand, and even get paid for efforts to help the grid. I do appreciate the decision the Commission made recently to subject these contracts to cost caps.

Texas has great potential to lower our energy use through energy efficiency, programs that provide incentives to customers to shift their energy use at peak times, and by authorizing more “Virtual Power Plants” so that customers with solar and storage can help provide power and get paid. Texas is well behind many other states on the use of these customer local energy solutions. Even if some contracts do go forward with ERCOT this winter, there are other solutions that are more cost-effective that you should and must pursue.

Please take the following action:

Authorize private utilities like Oncor Electric and AEP Texas to expand their commercial and residential demand response programs in the winter as well as the summer so that residential customers can benefit from the same incentives to lower their power use that large commercial and industrial customers get.

Recently, the Texas Legislature passed SB 1699 which requires the PUCT to set residential demand response goals and create programs to help meet these goals. Work with ERCOT, public utilities, and Retail Electric Providers to create residential demand response programs that are easy to use and access so that customers can get paid for helping fix the grid.

Continue to expand the successful Virtual Power Plant program so that more customers with solar and battery home systems can be part of the solution.

Open up a rulemaking on energy efficiency and demand response for ratepayer programs at the private utilities, and expand the offerings through expansion of the current modest energy savings and demand reduction goals.

Work with the TDHCA and SECO to ensure that all available federal funding for energy efficiency comes to Texas and is coordinated with PUCT administered programs.

As a residential customer, please open up these programs and rulemaking to ensure that there are more opportunities for us to save money and make money in the energy market, and reject ERCOT’s plans to pay old decommissioned power plants to come back online.

I pay my electric bills in the ERCOT market and I am very concerned about ERCOT’s plans that could increase my bills. Recently, ERCOT announced that it would be asking for proposals to generate up to 3,000 MW of power capacity, principally by bringing back old gas or coal plants, because of concerns about having enough supply to meet demand this winter. They also included paying larger electric customers to turn off their power through demand response in this request. These solutions could be very costly, lead to more pollution and would be done outside the normal market. Instead, I ask you to take more feasible and affordable action that will give residential and small business customers the chance to lower demand, and even get paid for efforts to help the grid. I do appreciate the decision the Commission made recently to subject these contracts to cost caps. Texas has great potential to lower our energy use through energy efficiency, programs that provide incentives to customers to shift their energy use at peak times, and by authorizing more “Virtual Power Plants” so that customers with solar and storage can help provide power and get paid. Texas is well behind many other states on the use of these customer local energy solutions. Even if some contracts do go forward with ERCOT this winter, there are other solutions that are more cost-effective that you should and must pursue. Please take the following action: Authorize private utilities like Oncor Electric and AEP Texas to expand their commercial and residential demand response programs in the winter as well as the summer so that residential customers can benefit from the same incentives to lower their power use that large commercial and industrial customers get. Recently, the Texas Legislature passed SB 1699 which requires the PUCT to set residential demand response goals and create programs to help meet these goals. Work with ERCOT, public utilities, and Retail Electric Providers to create residential demand response programs that are easy to use and access so that customers can get paid for helping fix the grid. Continue to expand the successful Virtual Power Plant program so that more customers with solar and battery home systems can be part of the solution. Open up a rulemaking on energy efficiency and demand response for ratepayer programs at the private utilities, and expand the offerings through expansion of the current modest energy savings and demand reduction goals. Work with the TDHCA and SECO to ensure that all available federal funding for energy efficiency comes to Texas and is coordinated with PUCT administered programs. As a residential customer, please open up these programs and rulemaking to ensure that there are more opportunities for us to save money and make money in the energy market, and reject ERCOT’s plans to pay old decommissioned power plants to come back online.

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