A bankruptcy judge gave Brazos Electric Power Cooperative Inc. more time to formulate its own restructuring plan, ruling against two member-owner cooperatives that have criticized its focus on raising debt to cover the steep costs of a freak winter storm in Texas in February, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Tuesday’s ruling by Judge David Jones of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Houston extends the deadline for Brazos to file a restructuring plan through next March and to solicit votes through May without the risk of a competing plan from creditors. Waco, Texas-based Brazos was the biggest Texas power company to fall victim to the winter freeze earlier this year, which knocked power plants offline and left millions of customers without electricity for days. Brazos racked up roughly $1.9 billion in charges from the state’s grid operator, the Electricity Reliability Council of Texas, during the winter storm and another roughly $180 million buying natural gas. Brazos has challenged the invoices from Ercot in bankruptcy court, a continuing dispute at the heart of the bankruptcy case, Brazos lawyer Louis Strubeck said during Tuesday’s court hearing.
