The executive who ran Texas’ power grid during last year’s freak winter storm testified Wednesday that he kept power prices at sky-high levels for days at the behest of a state regulator acting on directives from Gov. Greg Abbott to keep blackouts at bay, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. In a bankruptcy-court trial involving the state’s largest electricity cooperative, William Magness, the former CEO of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, testified about why he decided to keep prices at the maximum allowed level for more than three days during Winter Storm Uri. Brazos Electric Power Cooperative Inc. questioned Mr. Magness as a witness as it tries to cut down the roughly $1.9 billion bill from Ercot stemming from the winter storm, which knocked out power across the state. In response, regulators ordered Ercot to raise power prices to their maximum level of $9,000 per megawatt hour to try to encourage more generation, hitting Brazos and other energy retailers with huge charges. Mr. Magness testified that at a meeting at Ercot’s control room during the storm, DeAnn Walker, then chairman of the Texas Public Utility Commission, said the governor was concerned the state would have to reimpose blackouts.
