ERCOT, operator of the Texas electric grid, says that it was just following orders when it charged Brazos Electric Power Cooperative Inc. roughly $2 billion for power and related services provided during the deadly storm in February — a staggering bill that drove Brazos, the state’s largest and oldest electric cooperative, into bankruptcy, the Houston Chronicle reported. In a motion filed recently, ERCOT said it had no choice but to jack up the wholesale price of electricity to as much as $9,000 per megawatt-hour — or 300 times the average rate — during the storm. The motion seeks dismissal of a complaint by Brazos challenging ERCOT’s claim for just under $1.9 billion in Brazos’s chapter 11 bankruptcy case. Brazos filed its complaint Aug. 18. “ERCOT set those prices upon orders of the Public Utility Commission of Texas,” the motion to dismiss said. “ERCOT was statutorily obligated to obey.” Brazos sought chapter 11 protection on March 1, two weeks after Winter Storm Uri roared into Texas, unleashing snow, sleet, ice and subfreezing temperatures across the state. The brutal weather led to a massive failure of power-generating facilities, which left more than 4.5 million homes and businesses without electricity, many for several days. At one point during the storm, ERCOT officials acknowledged, the overtaxed Texas grid came within five minutes of a total collapse. With power scarce and demand colossal, wholesale prices were set at the state maximum of $9,000 per megawatt hour to squeeze out whatever electricity might be available. ERCOT’s $1.9 billion claim is by far the largest pending against Brazos; its approval claim could complicate the Waco-based cooperative’s efforts to emerge from bankruptcy as a robust, reorganized business entity.
