Brazos Electric Power Cooperative Inc. has asked the judge overseeing its bankruptcy to determine that Texas’s electric operator applied the wrong pricing mechanism for electricity used during the state's historic winter storm that left millions without power, Reuters reported. In court papers filed on Wednesday, Brazos asked Chief U.S. Bankruptcy Judge David Jones in Houston to issue a partial summary judgment ruling on the matter, which it first raised in a lawsuit filed in August as part of its bankruptcy against the Electric Reliability Council of Texas Inc. (ERCOT) over a $2 billion bill it received after the February storm. Brazos says that deciding the pricing dispute quickly will narrow the scope of any further trial over the bill and help it develop a reorganization plan. Brazos, the largest and oldest electric co-op in Texas, filed for chapter 11 protection in March after it was hit with the massive bill. The bill for the seven days the storm lasted is nearly three times the co-op’s total power cost from 2020, which was $774 million, according to court papers. For several days during the storm, ERCOT set electricity prices at $9,000 per megawatt hour.
