HOUSTON (Reuters) – Texas power companies have failed to pay another $ 345 million in electricity and other services suffered during last month’s cold, the state grid operator said Monday.
The state’s deregulated electricity market was in turmoil last month as 48% of its power plants went offline, fueling up to $ 9,000 per megawatt hour (mwh) spot rates and $ 25,000 per mwh service charges. These allegations led a supplier to bankruptcy on Monday.
In total, electricity prices on the state’s wholesale market rose $ 47 billion for about five days, when cold weather raised demand and power plants failed, said Carrie Bivens, vice president of Potomac Economics. , which monitors the Texas energy market.
Her figure does not include additional fees or implicit payments, which are significant and spread to all companies that use network services under ERCOT rules, she said.
“It’s a lot of zeros,” Bivens said of the extra taxes.
In total, electricity suppliers have waived $ 2.46 billion in energy and service charges, said Texas Electric Reliability Council (ERCOT). It applied $ 800 million in collateral and other accounts to reduce the cumulative deficit to $ 1.66 billion.
ERCOT did not disclose which companies failed to pay the bills, but said it would start naming companies and amounts they had not paid in the future.
The state-supervised operator acts as a clearinghouse, collecting cash from traders who buy energy and sends it to companies that supply electrons in its network.
Texas could cut about $ 2 billion in the burden on municipal utilities, traders and producers by cutting taxes, Bivens said. The governor could also apply part of the state’s emergency fund to cover some taxes.
On Monday, electricity supplier Brazos Electric Power Cooperative Inc., the largest and oldest wholesale electricity company in the state, filed for bankruptcy, incurring a $ 1.8 billion debt to ERCOT. The filing highlighted the financial stress of electricity and utility marketers in price turmoil.
A spokeswoman for Gov. Greg Abbott declined to comment on Monday’s bankruptcy filing or proposals for the state’s Utilities Commission to withdraw fees that went up during the disruption.
Abbott is monitoring the situation “because ERCOT and their financial advisers are working to ensure that the ability to supply electricity is not interrupted,” said spokeswoman Renae Eze.
Reporting by Gary McWilliams; Edited by Rosalba O’Brien and Stephen Coates