AUSTIN, Texas — On Feb. 9, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) gathered for the last time before a historic winter storm would eventually strike the state, leaving millions without electricity for days.
During that 2-hour-and-28-minute meeting, President and CEO Bill Magness spoke briefly about winter weather preparedness. He spoke for about 40 seconds:
“One thing I want to say before I really get into the presentation: It is actually going to be winter here pretty soon. As those of you in Texas know, we do have a cold front coming this way. We'll probably see our winter peak later this week or in the very early part of next week. And Operations has issued an operating condition notice just to make sure everyone is up to speed with their winterization and we're ready for the several days of pretty frigid temperatures to come our way.”
In the coming weeks, ERCOT, the council overseeing the electrical grid for the majority of Texas, will be heavily under the microscope. Gov. Greg Abbott has declared an emergency legislative item regarding the reform of ERCOT.
And on Good Morning America Friday, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said the Texas Senate would be working to find out "what the hell" happened, saying government leaders were told that ERCOT was prepared for the coming storm.
"I'm not going to go out and say someone purposely lied and covered up anything," said Patrick. "The investigation will turn all that information and make that clear. But the information we were given was not correct. And we need to get to the bottom and hold those people accountable. We may need to start a brand-new system."
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