That will cost money, but should be discussed. / CBS News. The five members, who do not live in Texas, include even the chairwoman and the vice-chairman reported Austin American Statesman. That was the one outside Houston, by the way, which is normally in the 60s to 70s this time of year. At least 13 people have died in weather-related incidents in the Houston area, according to the Houston Chronicle. Dr. Melissa C. Lott, a senior research scholar at The Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University SIPA, announced the election of Talberg and Cramton on Twitter. ", Statement on resignation of @ERCOT_ISO leadership: pic.twitter.com/kSMw1qTpK5, "When Texans were in desperate need of electricity, ERCOT failed to do its job and Texans were left shivering in their homes without power. When the intense storm hit the state, major generation units failed,and operators at ERCOT ordered a series of rolling blackouts intended to protect the electric grid from catastrophic failure. The board members were not all immediately available for comment or referred reporters to their resignation letters. The heads of ERCOT's board of directors don't even live in Texas Sally Talberg. While with NiSource, he was also chairman on the board of directors for One Columbus and a board of trustees member for the American Gas Foundation. Abigail Rosenthal is a writer and editor based in Austin. She is the vice president of regulatory and compliance at Just Energy. ERCOT announces search for new board of directors after mass - Chron Innovation Studio Vision/Northstar: Be the Home where aspiring individuals are . Reward offered as manhunt for Texas shooting suspect reaches "dead end", Louisiana's health care deserts put women, babies at risk, doctors say, Second convoy of U.S. citizens fleeing Khartoum arrives at Port Sudan, How a tall Texan became an unlikely Australian rules football star, Surviving the torturous hell of the Hanoi Hilton, Texas surfer pushed offshore by strong winds rescued by Coast Guard, Tornado flips cars, downs trees after touching down in South Florida, Shaquil Barrett's 2-year-old daughter dies in drowning accident, Investors sue Adidas over Kanye West Yeezy deal, Texas power utility board members resign after winter storm crisis. Previously, she was a digital reporter for Chron, Gannett and the Austin American-Statesman. ga('ads.send', { Mr. Flexon currently serves as Chair of the Pacific Gas & Electric Board of Directors, Chair of Capstone Green Energy, and member of Charah Inc. Others are appointed by companies and consumers participating in the electricity market, with members representing various power sources. ERCOT leadership made assurances that Texas' power infrastructure was prepared for the winter storm, but those assurances proved to be devastatingly false," Abbott said. He has advised numerous governments and has been on the ERCOT board since 2015. Texas energy supplier under fire for five out-of-state board members pic.twitter.com/jG0yPQPtz1. Unaffiliated members cannot have ties to businesses ERCOT oversees. The PUC announced Monday its search for eight new members to join the Electric Reliability Council of Texas board of directors. Leach has been vocal on Twitter about his criticisms of ERCOT. @ERCOT_ISO Board of Directors elected newcomer @SallyTalberg to a three-year term as its chair and six-year veteran Peter Cramton as its vice chair, she wrote. Its methods will change, its board will change, its transparency and communications will change. Senate Bill 2, which has cleared the upper chamber, would give the governor five ERCOT board member appointments. Recommendations made afterward went unenforced. The next ERCOT board meeting is currently . Vice Chair of ERCOT Board of Directors, Chair of Finance & Audit Committee. All board members are Texas residents. pg.acq.push(function() { VERIFY: Does Texas have an independent power grid, and what does that mean? "With the right follow through, Texas can lead the nation in investing in infrastructure and emergency preparedness to withstand the effects of severe weather events whether in the form of flooding, drought, extreme temperatures, or hurricanes," the resigning members wrote. Dozens of counties in the state have been declaredmajor disaster areas by President Biden, and millions of people were under a boil water order. Vice Chairman Peter. She has ties to Texas outside of her work with ERCOT. In order for ERCOT to maintain its certification as an independent organization, the board, which should consist of 16 members, must include five directors who are completely unaffiliated with any market segment. Ivey would have been the fifth unaffiliated member. We would like to congratulate Sally and Peter on their new roles on the ERCOT Board, and look forward to working with them on addressing the challenges of an evolving grid in the years to come, said ERCOT President and CEO Bill Magness. He served as a versatile executive at NiSource for six years, holding numerous roles, including Chief Operating Officer, Executive Vice President and President of Columbia Gas Group, and Chief Customer Officer. Hearings will commence next week. Three other ERCOT board members also appear to live thousands of miles from Texas. 'Completely unacceptable': Abbott says ERCOT hasn't been transparent, demands answers about Texas power outages, How will my electric bill be impacted? }); He most recently served as President and CEO of Dynegy Inc. from 2011 through 2018. Leach also said he was troubled by threats made against ERCOT Board members, as well as ERCOTs decision to pull down the board members names and bios. ERCOT did not immediately respond to CBS News' request for comment. Keeping Score: FC Dallas leaves Minnesota with a point in standings after scoreless draw, It's Flippin' Art Dude! Dr. Carlos Aguilar is an engineer with a PhD and MSc in Economics (corporate/business strategy and finance). Power had been restored to about 400,000 households by Wednesday morning, according to The Dallas Morning News, a small portion of those living without electricity in the frigid weather. People who are making literally life and death decisions on behalf of our families and our communities dont even live in the state of Texas, Leach said. State lawmakers are now trying to change the way ERCOT is governed by requiring members to live in Texas and giving more board seats to political appointees - changes that experts say may do little to improve the power grid. Thanks to everyone who has been conserving today. Before his appointment, Mr. Lake served as Chairman of the Texas Water Development Board, the states primary water planning and financing agency charged with leading efforts to ensure a secure water future for Texans. President & Member of the Board of Directors. Answer this: What do I say to the elderly couple in my District who havent had power in over 36 hours and are struggling to survive in their 30 home?. Amid the crisis situation, it has come to light that five of the fifteen officials serving on ERCOT's (The Electric Reliability Council of Texas) board of directors are non-natives of the state itself. Gov. While his decision was lauded by many, a few others backfired the blame towards him, for deregulating and privatizing ERCOT, and thereby hampering its operational efficiency. WFAA conducted a 20-minute interview with the CEO of ERCOT Tuesday morning, talking about the current electric crisis in Texas. On Monday, the Senate Jurisprudence Committee took up - but did not vote on - HB 10, the lower chamber's high-priority legislation to change ERCOT's governance. },false) As a nonprofit newsroom, we rely on members to help keep our stories free and our events open to the public. Electric Reliability Council of Texas - Wikipedia In addition, Vanessa Anesetti-Parra, the market segment director for the independent retail electric provider market segment, will also resign her position as a board member. Excited and honored to serve as @ERCOT_ISO board chair! texas snowstorm ercot power outage board of directors governor greg Sally Talberg, chairwoman of ERCOT's board of directors, is a former state utility regulator who lives in Michigan, according to her biography on ERCOT's website. Rep. Jeff Leach, R-Plano, said he will file legislation requiring the officers and directors of ERCOT to live in Texas, referencing Talberg living in Michigan. State Sen. Carol Alvarado of Houston released a letter urging the Public Utility Commission of Texas to approve only residents of Texas to fill ERCOT board vacancies. WFAA also tried calling the three board member, but were unsuccessful. He most recently served as the U.S. Representative for the 17th Congressional District of Texas from 2011 through 2021. According to his LinkedIn page, he lives in Del Mar, California. Before serving in these roles, he was hired by Michael Dell to create and run an enterprise software division within Dell Inc., where he ultimately served as President of the Dell Software Group until its sale in 2016. The five members, who do not live in Texas, include even the chairwoman and the vice-chairman reported Austin American Statesman . Just an FYI, five members of the ERCOT board of directors live out of state. Hepper, a former litigator for the U.S. Department of Justice, retired in 2018 from working for the grid operator that manages the six-state New England electric system and wholesale markets. Despite pulling down board member names, bios and photos, ERCOT kept a board page on its website, but listed the chair, vice chair, and 13-other board positions as vacant.. He has previously served as Chairman of the University of Texas System Board of Regents as well as a member of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, the University of Texas System Lands Advisory Board, and the El Paso Branch of the Dallas Federal Reserve Bank. Before retirement, Ms. Heeg managed successful law practices with Reed Smith and Norton Rose Fulbright. if(document.querySelector("#ads")){ }); Updated: 5 PM Central. Im filing legislation this session requiring all @ERCOT_ISO officers and directors to be Texas residents. And millions have already been hitting power harder than usual by working from home thanks to the pandemic. The 11-member board consists of eight directors who are appointed by the State of Texas ERCOT Board Selection Committee and who are required by law to not have fiduciary duty or assets in the electricity market for the ERCOT Region, and three ex officio members: the CEO of ERCOT (non-voting), the Public Counsel of the Office of Public Utility Counsel (OPUC), and the Chair of the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) (non-voting). Pablo Vegas joined ERCOT in October 2022 as President and CEO. "Its not an issue with the turbines outright. New: Sally Talberg, @ERCOT_ISO board chair, has called for an "urgent meeting" on Feb. 24 to obtain "an initial accounting of details" that led to power outages across state + "ERCOT's preparations and decisions. Prior to joining NiSource, Mr. Vegas held a variety of senior executive positions with American Electric Power (AEP), including President and Chief Operating Officer of AEP Ohio, President and Chief Operating Officer of AEP Texas, and Vice President and Chief Information Officer of AEP. We are ordering an investigation into ERCOT and immediate transparency by ERCOT. Resigning board members include board chairman Sally Talberg, who lives in Michigan; board vice chairman Peter Crampton, who lives in Germany; finance and audit committee chairman Terry Bulger, who lives in Illinois; and human resources and governance committee chairman Raymond Hepper, who lives in Maine, according to company profiles and other biographical pages. For one thing, about a third of its members dont even live in Texas. As some Texans see electric bills skyrocket, most should be spared pricing spikes, Family sues Texas utility companies for $100M after 11-year-old boy died amid power failure. And you dont even have to live there? Many officials, including Governor Greg Abbott, have questioned whether the company was adequately prepared. Innovation Studio. "I doubt you could find an expert anywhere that would say eliminating the independent experts from the ERCOT board was an improvement," Cramton said. media-tech companies with hubs around the world. Copyright 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. Your water pipes may have frozen and burst, rendering your frigid home uninhabitable. The 2023 NFL Draft runs April 2729 live from Kansas City, Missouri. The operator said in November that it anticipated "sufficient installed generating capacity" during the "peak demand" through spring, although it did note that this announcement was based on what "typically" occurs every season and in extreme weather conditions. Three of the resigning board members live in other states, and one lives in another country. Feb. 23, 2021 On Tuesday, he shared ERCOTs tweet. Governor Greg Abbott appointed Peter Lake to serve as Chairman of the Public Utility Commission of Texas on April 12, 2021, for a term set to expire on September 1, 2023. Gov. Texas boy, 3, accidentally shoots himself dead on his birthday using gun that fell from family members pocket, Texas teacher who asked Trump to deport illegal students from Mexico at her school fired over racially insensitive tweet. Both it and coal have provided a steady power baseline throughout the storms, though one reactor did have to get taken offline when its water cooling system froze up. "I cannot imagine how this change could improve resilience to winter storms," Cramton said. If the wind turbines are unreliable in these temps then we shouldnt rely on them. Five board members, including the chair, who do not live in Texas will resign. Ivey, whose appointment was approved by ERCOT's members but was pending final approval from the PUC, is retired from more than three decades of experience in the utilities industry. It is critical to learn from this experience and bring about the necessary organizational, market, planning, and oversight changes to protect Texans., READ NEXT: Kathryn Adams Limbaugh Announced Husband Died on The Rush Limbaugh Show, Sally Talberg, ERCOT Chairwoman: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know, Copyright 2023 Heavy, Inc. All rights reserved. Ms. Talberg also has experience with environmental and safety compliance and enforcement for drinking water and wastewater facilities. Texas Electric Board Members Live WHERE? - PJ Media hitType: 'event', ERCOT Will Restore Board of Directors' Names to Website - Newsweek } But I think there was no impact of the chair or the ERCOT board member directors on the weather or on the decisions we had to make to avoid a catastrophic black out.. Five members of the board of directors at the entity that operates Texas' electrical grid will resign from their posts on Wednesday, according to a notice posted to the Public Utility . Raymond Hepper was listed as a retired general counsel and officer for a New England company. Some are chosen by ERCOT's own nominating committee. Rep. Jeff Leach, R-Plano, told WFAA that he was totally shocked to learn a third of the ERCOT Board of Directors lived outside Texas. It just cannot be that way here in the Lone Star State.. Recommendations made afterward went unenforced. Just an FYI, five members of the ERCOT board of directors live out of state. As one of the firms proprietary market makers, he also traded interest rate derivatives, primarily focusing on U.S. Treasury bond futures. A massive blackout in Texas shined a spotlight on a policy: ERCOT officers and directors are not required to live in Texas, and Chairwoman Sally Talberg lives in Michigan. ADVERTISEMENT State officials confirmed that they pulled down the photos and biographies of ERCOT board members from the website due to possible safety threats. Greg Abbott and many state lawmakers quickly criticized the Electric Reliability Council of Texas because several members of its large governing board reside outside of Texas. Before his leadership role with Dynegy, he was CFO of UGI Utilities and CEO of FosterWheeler, a global engineering and construction firm, and COO and CFO of NRG Energy. There are a total of 16 members on ERCOT's board, which appoints officers who manage the grid manager's day-to-day operations. He began serving as an unaffiliated director on the board in October 2015. Texans, in turn, are blasting public officials including Former Colorado City Mayor Tim Boyd, and ERCOT, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas. CEO Bill Mangess said in a press conference that cntact information for the Electric Reliability Council of Texas' board of directors will be restored to the council's website next week . He has a long history of service in both the electric and gas industries. She served until December 31, 2020, the day she became the ERCOT chairman, according to the MPSC. In her law practice, she advised leading companies on complex energy, regulatory, and corporate governance matters. I have friends who are dealing with this and will be dealing with it for a long time after the storm. Talbert began serving as an unaffiliated director on the ERCOT Board on Jan. 1, 2021, and Cramton served as an unaffiliated director since October 2015, according to an ERCOT press release. Whether youre shopping Way Day 2023 or Walmart, theres an al fresco set for you. Four members of Texas power grid operator ERCOT's board to resign in They havent had electricity for two days and it just started to snow again. Among the other two board members, who reside out of Texas, Terry Bulger has a career as a banking professional - completely different from the energy and electrical sector. "These people would be political types without electricity expertise," he told The Texas Tribune. Stay warm and safe! ga('ads.send', { Vanessa Anesetti-Parra was listed as serving as vice president of regulatory and compliance for an energy company. Three of the resigning board members live in other states, and one lives in another country. Five ERCOT Board Members Don't Live In Texas, Two State - KERA Another provision of both chambers' legislation requires all board members to reside in Texas, which would prevent experts like Cramton from sitting on the ERCOT board in the future. "Obviously the down side is they're political appointees looking after the political interests of those that appoint them.". Mr. Lake graduated with a BA in public policy with a specialization in economics from the University of Chicago, and he earned an MBA from Stanford Universitys Graduate School of Business. "ERCOT is an agency of the state, of Texas and what happened this week is a failure not just of ERCOT but of the statewide leadership, state representatives, state senators who didn't do enough to make the necessary structural changes to prevent what took place this week.". He has also served as Director of Business Development for Lake Ronel Oil Company, where he focused on financial analysis of upstream oil and gas opportunities. Texas storm exposes massive oversight issues with state power grid, Matthew McConaughey eyes potential run for Texas governor, Another Texas power company goes bankrupt after blackout, Oldest Texas electricity co-op goes bust after $2 billion bill, Texas crisis highlights vulnerability of U.S. power grids, Biden touts bipartisanship on Texas visit. Copyright 2023 PJMedia.com/Salem Media. I welcome the resignations, Abbott said. The ERCOT website biographies prior to being pulled down listed ERCOT Chair Sally Talbert as a former state utility regulator in Michigan. Mr. Swainsons career includes extensive experience in software, technology, and business management. Anesetti-Parra lives in Toronto. Great news. 1:00. She was elected as chair of the board only days before the power outage. Daniel Enrquez Vidaa - President & Member of the Board of Directors That doesn't . ERCOT Removes Names of Board Members from Site Following - Newsweek 2021 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. Performance meets portability with Apple's 2023 MacBook Pro. The Texas Tribune is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans - and engages with them - about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues. This is the cost of not planning ahead. State lawmakers are now trying to change the way ERCOT is governed by requiring members to live in Texas and giving more board seats to political appointees - changes that experts say may do . Bill Flores is an entrepreneur, business leader, and public policy leader. The Texas Railroad Commission regulates oil and gas production in the Lone Star State, which is the nations top energy-producing state. The ERCOT board of directors elected her as the chair on February 9, 2021, an ERCOT press release said. Most recently, he was the president of Consolidated Edison Co. of New York Inc., a subsidiary of Consolidated Edison Inc. Anesetti-Parra oversees Just Energys North American residential and commercial regulatory affairs and compliance division and has two decades of experience in the retail energy sector. As the storm started in earnest Sunday, its social media released this. pic.twitter.com/Mt2GPlaFuE. }); The heads of ERCOT's board of directors don't even live in Texas. He lives in Wheaton, a suburb in Chicago, Illinois. Board of Directors - Electric Reliability Council of Texas Some of the other members include Terry Bulger, Mark Carpenter, Lori Cobos, Keith Emery and Nick Fehrenbach some of whom do not even remotely hail from a background in energy and power segment. Estimates suggest ERCOT board members make. ERCOT officials, during a press conference last week, said it had temporarily removed personal information about the directors from its website because they were experiencing harassment. The political appointees replace what are now called "unaffiliated members," who mostly served as outside expert voices. Many, probably most, Texans hadnt heard of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas until this week. "We want what is best for ERCOT and Texas.". "We represent to the public that ERCOT is an independent agency, and yet under the various options we have before us between the two chambers, we're appointing members politically," Johnson said. "We needed to step in and make sure that we were not going to end up with Texas in a blackout, which could keep folks without power not just some people without power but everyone in our region without power for much, much longer than we believe this event is going to last, as long and as difficult as this event is right now, he said in a statement, reported Dallas News. hitType: 'event', State leaders continue to probe what went wrong with the power grid during the Feb. winter storm and what can be done to keep it from happening again. Theyre gone. "After the Valentine's Day storm and failure of our electric system, many Texans were alarmed to learn that many members of ERCOT's board were not residents of Texas and were not experiencing many of the same hardships as many of our fellow Texans were suffering at that time," Schwertner said. the chair lives in Michigan and the vice chair is an economics prof in Cologne Germany. Between the pandemic, the economy, a brewing border crisis, and now this massive winter disaster, the governor and the legislators have their work cut out for them. DALLAS A third of the board of directors that operate the state's electrical grid do not appear to live in Texas, and their performance in wake of widespread outages has led to a. Well, except in certain well-lit urban downtowns. ERCOT board members who live outside of Texas are resigning in the A third of the board of directors that operate the states electrical grid do not appear to live in Texas, and their performance in wake of widespread outages has led to a Dallas-area lawmakers call for change. eventCategory: event.slot.getSlotElementId(), Coal plants were the casualties of the billion-dollar subsidies that developed wind and solar power in Texas. Mr. Flores has also served in board governance and senior leadership positions for numerous public and private entities. A spokesperson tells ABC13 the board and senior leaders were getting threats because of the anger over the widespread power outages. window.googletag.pubads().addEventListener('impressionViewable', function(event) { Craig Ivey, who was set to fill a vacant position on the board, said in a separate letter that he was withdrawing his candidacy "to avoid becoming a distraction" over his out-of-state residency. Winter storm blackouts plagued Texas in 2011, too. Greg Abbott, who charged state lawmakers with making changes at ERCOT after the outages,said he welcomed the resignations. None of them lives in Texas. They have erupted in virtual protests and outrage against ERCOT all over the Internet. Another will be, should Texas fully embrace nuclear? Well, now that the glare has turned on ERCOT, it has removed the board members names from its website. Talberg lives in Michigan with her husband and two daughters, according to her ERCOT bio. Abbott, FBI announce rewards for info on Cleveland mass shooter, Massive ranch up for sale near Texas next big state park, 3,800-acre San Antonio-area property to become Texas state park, Texas man catches giant alligator snapping turtle, releases it, Former KPRC 2 anchor Dominique Sachse to launch podcast Monday, Uber ranks Houston among most 'forgetful' U.S. cities, Texas to host national hot air balloon championship this summer, Report: Texas man took break from dinner date to kill man outside, One of Houston's tallest skyscrapers to become apartment complex, J.J. Watt tweets the 2 things he doesn't miss about Houston, You can own your own cave system for a cool $875k, home included, Texas college baseball player hit by stray bullet mid-game, Houston's weather is as serious as a Cat 5 hurricane, Hidalgo says, one independent power grid in the country, Greg Abbott announces $50k reward for information on Cleveland shooting, Massive Coastal Bend ranch up for sale near Texas next big state park, Property north of San Antonio set to become a new Texas state park, Texas man catches massive alligator snapping turtle, then releases it back into the wild, How former KPRC 2 anchor Dominique Sachse is getting back to reporting, Uber ranks Houston among the most 'forgetful' U.S. cities, more than 1.37 million people were still without power in Houston. Places with much colder climates than Texas use wind turbines with no issues. #ERCOT set a new winter peak demand record this evening, reaching 69,150 MW between 6 and 7 p.m. Records show the two top office holders of the 15-member board of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), live out-of-state. Cramton has focused his research on electricity and financial markets. }); ERCOT has had a difficult job dealing with this terrible storm, but its public communications have not helped. }); ERCOT leadership names removed because of threats Dr. Carlos Aguilar is the President and CEO of Texas Central and will now serve on the governing board that oversees the state's electric grid.
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