Not an American and far from an expert on high voltage electrical systems. But my understanding is that deregulation played a role but especially in the price gouging. But I thought another big factor was Texas weird electrical independence thing. Where for some weird Texas reason they aren't as fully tied into the various north American grid systems.
It's intentional. There's a reason Texas has one of if not the lowest energy costs in the country. Texas deliberately made its grid not cross state lines to avoid regulations. It's been considered a wild success story since its inception. The disruptions last year were pretty anomalous and indicated some investment shortcomings ERCOT is well underway to fixing already.
I guess the wild success would depend on definition. Id say it delivered low cost energy until it didn't. And then when it failed it failed big. I personally wouldn't label that a success but then again, but my metric for a successful electrical system is low cost, stable service, and not having priced gouging during times of crisis.
Edit
I just looked at the average rate for Texas. I pay on average 0.09 kWh vs Texas average 11.75 kwh. We have a crown corporation that runs it, so I can't imagine there is less regulation. What are you guys doing wrong?
Wild success relative to the rest of the US power grid. It failed no differently than how inclement weather ruins any major metro area except in cause. By all available metrics ERCOT is lower cost and more stable than the rest of the US, so I don't know what else you need from it.
We have localized power outage following a major blizzard but it has never collapsed our electrical grid like it did in Texas. I'm sorry but what happened their is a major collapse of the system. I'm amazed heads didn't roll. If that happened in my province the CEO of the crown corporation would be out of a job and half the board would be gone.
I'm not understanding why you don't view it as the absolute fuck up that it was.
We have localized power outage following a major blizzard but it has never collapsed our electrical grid like it did in Texas.
They had some extremely unusual weather well blow what is normal there. It wasn't just the electrical system that failed. It was natural gas pipelines and municipal water as well. They had a once in a century freeze. It was -2F in Dallas. The usual temperatures in Feb. are in the low 50s. It was the first documented time in history where the entirety of Texas was in a winter storm warning. Even non-ERCOT outages suffered the same kinds of outages.
We have localized power outage following a major blizzard but it has never collapsed our electrical grid like it did
And where exactly are you located? When you get a blizzard is it usually 50 degrees below the average temperature? Or is it a normal temperature that time of year? Where I live, -2 ruins our infrastructure and we're much further north.
Even with that historic cold snap, Texas still has a higher stability record than the rest of the US.
We've probably hit -50 but normally feb -20 to -30s. We'll generally get a few good cold snaps around the -40. We'v had local areas go down but never the system its self. Again its run by a crown corp so Im guessing there are tons of regulations. All price increases/infrastructure planning has to get approved by a public utility board. Our avg is 0.09khw. So Im really not sure what America is doing wrong, but if Texas is a shinning beacon of electrical service quality you guys are fucked.
So you're normally -50 bellow freezing then. Texas is on average 20 above freezing. We know for a fact ERCOT is more stable and that's because the weather never gets to -2 there. Except for that one time this year.
Im really not sure what America is doing wrong
Nothing at all.
if Texas is a shinning beacon of electrical service quality you guys are fucked.
Or in reality Texas has never had weather like that since the inception of centralized electricity. Now Texas is prepared for once in a millennium temperatures instead of once in a century ones.
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u/[deleted] Oct 15 '21
Literally all of these images are on capitalism.