Lieutenant General Dan Patrick focuses on PUC and Test Governor Greg Abbott

Judge Greg Abbott has been working since the winter disaster last month to lay the blame on the state’s electricity grid operator – despite being overseen by the Abbott Commission on Public Utilities.

But as state lawmakers respond to their response to the crisis, Lieutenant Government Dan Patrick is making it increasingly difficult to look away from the commission, and it shines a harsh spotlight on Abbott’s people and their decisions.

Last week, Patrick at the time, DeAnn Walker, asked for the resignation of the PUC chair – and hours later she said it would stop. After a regulatory watchdog told the commission earlier this week that the Texas Electric Reliability Board overpaid power supplies by $ 16 billion during the storm, Patrick demanded that the PUC reduce costs retroactively – and Abbott considers that an emergency item for the legislative session. the next day.

The watchdog later revised its estimate of the overpayment to $ 4.2 billion, but that did not dampen Patrick’s anger. The lieutenant governor’s focus on the PUC took its most dramatic turn on Thursday night when he appeared at a Senate committee hearing to oust Arthur D’Andrea, the new commission chairman of Abbott – and the only member left.

Finally, Patrick ends the week with his most direct challenge to Abbott. In a statement on Friday night, Patrick called on Abbott to “step in” and replace D’Andrea, and the governor dared to abandon his 9-day appointment, which had previously served as assistant chief executive for Abbott.

Abbott quickly repulsed Patrick.

Even before Patrick’s statement, Capitol observers said they could not recall anything like the recent Patrick-D’Andrea showdown.

‘It’s very unusual and I’ve never seen a lieutenant governor sit and take part in a hearing as if he were a senator – and also address someone in a public way – if they do not intend to do so. do not. put pressure on him to resign, ”said Sandie Haverlah, a nonprofit lobbyist. “This is clearly an insult to the governor, because D’Andrea is serving the governor’s will.”

Asked before Patrick’s statement on Friday whether Abbott was confident in D’Andrea’s ability to chair the PUC, Abbott’s spokeswoman Renae Eze replied: “Absolutely.” And in a letter released after Patrick asked to remove D’Andrea, Abbott told Patrick that he agreed with D’Andrea “about his inability to take the action you requested”, referring to the popular pricing correction.

Abbott has been resistant since the early days of the storm to the guilt of the PUC, which regulates the state’s electrical, water and telecommunications equipment, but chose to annoy the Texas Electric Reliability Council. Asked at a news conference on February 18 whether he had any responsibility for the crisis, given his office’s relationship with the PUC, Abbott kept the focus on ERCOT and said, “I take responsibility for the current status of ERCOT.”

“It’s not a word I would normally use to describe Dan Patrick, but I think he was always a little more cautious, especially when it came to ERCOT,” said Adrian Shelley, Texas director of consumer rights group Public Citizen. said. “Abbott was just out there taking cheap shots at ERCOT.”

What drives the dynamics is the source of increasing speculation in Austin. There is a political background: Patrick has never been able to shake rumors that he is interested in the governor’s office, despite the fact that he would never take action against Abbott and has repeatedly said that he will be a lieutenant for a third term in 2022. -governor wants to participate.

In the context of this session, it was a notable turnout for Patrick, who was extraordinarily low during the opening weeks. That began to change in early February when he embarked on the battle to play the national anthem at professional sports games and made preparations to release a list of legislative priorities.

Then came the storm, which left millions of Texans in the cold and dark, raising uncomfortable questions about the state’s power grid and confusing the agenda at the Capitol.

Patrick said the crisis led him to release his priorities for a few days so he could adjust them to reflect new problems. His list of 31 priorities was eventually supplemented by ‘ERCOT reform’ and ‘power stability’, which came second and third respectively – directly to the essential budget.

But things changed further for Patrick after Walker and outgoing ERCOT chief executive Bill Magness appeared before state and senate committees in late February. The lieutenant governor drafted their actions in a lengthy statement and called on them to resign, easily becoming the highest-elected official to begin extending the debt to the PUC.

Towards the end of the day, Walker submitted her resignation letter which is effective immediately.

Abbott has already asked ERCOT leaders to resign, but has said nothing about the PUC. After Walker announced her resignation, Abbott’s office offered a statement thanking Walker “for her many years of service to the state of Texas.”

Patrick further increased the pressure on the PUC on Monday, when he called on ERCOT and the commission to reduce the market price for power retroactively during the week of the power outages. The next day, Patrick backed 28 of the 31 lawmakers ‘senators, who sent a letter to D’Andrea – who had just appointed Abbott to replace Walker as PUC chairman – urging him’ in the strongest possible terms to correct the invoice errors immediately. . ”

D’Andrea and the PUC refused to do so, citing unforeseen consequences of interference in an already settled electricity market. D’Andrea held the position when Patrick questioned him for almost half an hour on Thursday night, claiming that D’Andrea had told him otherwise in a recent call.

In his statement Friday night, Patrick Abbott called for “Mr. To replace D’Andrea in the PUC when he fills the other two vacancies there. ‘

“Mr D’Andrea’s position requires professional competence and honesty, and he showed little in the hearings yesterday,” Patrick said. “I believe most Texans who watched the trial of the Senate’s jurisprudence , would conclude that D’Andrea may not have full authority over ERCOT, or should be part of the solution going forward. ‘

Less than an hour after Patrick’s statement, Abbott’s office released the letter to the lieutenant governor. In the letter, Abbott cited his previous experience as a Supreme Court justice and attorney general’s support for D’Andrea, and told Patrick that the governor “does not have independent authority to achieve the goals you seek.”

“The only entity that authorizes the solution you want is the legislature itself,” Abbott wrote. “Therefore, I have made this issue a necessary point for the legislature to consider this session.”

Not every senator is with Patrick, at least in terms of pricing. The three senators who did not sign the letter were Sens Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe; Sarah Eckhardt, D-Austin; and Kelly Hancock, R-North Richland Hills. Hancock told The Dallas Morning News that he wants to remain neutral in the debate because he chairs the Senate Business and Commerce Committee, which held the hearings in the chamber.

Creighton’s office did not respond to a request for comment Friday.

Lawmakers in the House, meanwhile, have taken what they see as a more deliberative approach, and some promise to have ‘all the facts’ before taking action on the issue.

During a hearing on the State House of Representatives on Thursday, it appears that State Representative Chris Paddie, a Marshall Republican who chairs the committee, slapped the Senate’s 28-member letter, which asked D’Andrea to to reverse the charges.

“Before we take a position or someone from us separately sends you a letter or something else,” Paddie told D’Andrea. ‘I’ll be really sure if I sign my name on something I already have facts, and that it’s accurate. ‘

Dade Phelan, home council spokesman R-Beaumont, said in a statement after the hearing that he appreciated the committee for the “deliberative inquiry” into the issue and said he was looking forward to a new hearing next week on the conversation.

And this past week, Phelan pushed the idea for legislation that would create a loan fund by withdrawing money from the state’s savings account, also known as the rainy day fund. The new fund could help electricity and natural gas producers strengthen facilities against future cold weather events.

The proposal, submitted Friday by State Representative Dan Huberty, R-Houston, is based on the Texas State Water Implementation Fund, known as SWIFT, which has helped build $ 10 billion in new water projects over the past few years. .

Meanwhile, it seems inevitable that the heat on the PUC will not abate, despite Abbott’s earlier efforts to protect his appointments from the storm surge.

“I think it will be difficult to come to any other conclusion,” said Doug Lewin, a climate and energy consultant. ‘Abbott clearly jumped out to say it was [ERCOT], and I think … Patrick hit the drums that it’s ERCOT and the PUC and really put the emphasis on the PUC. ”

Cassi Pollock reported.