The top board members of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) have announced that they will resign from their posts on Wednesday after a deadly winter storm system left millions without power amid the temperature below zero.
In a Tuesday letter to their fellow board members – there are a total of 16 – chairman Sally Talberg and vice-chairmen Peter Cramton, Terry Bulger and Raymond Hepper wrote that they ‘go out to all Texans’ who had to go without electricity, heat, water and “face the tragic consequences of this emergency.”
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“We have noticed recent concerns about state leadership outside the state at ERCOT. To give state leaders a free hand with future direction and to dispel distractions, we are effectively resigning after adjourning our urgent council meeting on Wednesday, February 24.” 2021, ‘they said.
The group said they want what is best for both ERCOT and Texas, and are reviewing this extreme cold weather and the ensuing power crisis.
“With the right follow-up, Texas could lead the country to invest in infrastructure and emergency preparedness to withstand the effects of severe weather conditions – whether in the form of floods, droughts, extreme temperatures or hurricanes,” the group added.
“We have only one thing to ask those of you who remain on the board: keep acknowledging the good people at ERCOT and what they do every day for Texas,” the members concluded, with Bill Magness, president and CEO head of ERCOT, resigned.
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A file posted on the Public Utility Commission’s website – the agency overseeing ERCOT – shows that board member Vanessa Anesetti-Parra also resigned from her post and Craig Ivey rejected his application for a non-affiliated director -lock retracted.
On the ERCOT website, the positions are now indicated as ‘vacant’. Earlier in a news conference, Magness told reporters that some of the members had received threats leading to the company temporarily removing personal information from the board of directors.
All five of the members live outside of Texas.
Customers use the light of a cell phone to look at the meat section of a grocery store in Dallas on Tuesday, February 16, 2021. Although the store lost power, it was open for cash sales.
((AP Photo / LM Otero))
The Associated Press reported Wednesday that Talberg lives in Michigan and Bulger in Illinois.
In order to ratify ERCOT as an independent organization, the board must include five directors who are not associated with “any market segment,” according to The Texas Tribune.
Bulger, Hepper, Ansetti-Parra and Talberg were not immediately available for comment.
Cramton declined to comment, but pointed to Fox News in a February 24 board meeting of directors.
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“ERCOT flew a 747. It did not have one, but two engines experienced a catastrophic failure, and flew the damaged plane 103 hours before landing safely in the Hudson,” Cramton said during the more than three hours long meeting said. “In my opinion, the men and women in the ERCOT control room are heroes.”
ERCOT operates the Texas electricity grid – which is separate from the rest of the country – and manages about 90% of Lonestar State’s power for 26 million customers.
The non-profit organization was raked over the coals last week after an Arctic explosion in the deep south left more than 80 dead.
In their own letter, 16 Texas mayors called on Magness to address their “shortcomings” and wrote in favor of a full public broadcast and action by the state leadership – although the Democratic mayor of Houston, Sylvester Turner, said the Texas Public Utility Commission is just as responsible. for the loss of electric power.
In response to the crisis, lawsuits were filed against ERCOT. Whether ERCOT can be held liable, however, remains unclear and the Texas Supreme Court is expected to rule on whether it is entitled to sovereign immunity.
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While Magness defended the interruptions, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott said before Thursday’s hearings in Austin that he welcomed resignations.
“When Texans urgently needed electricity, ERCOT could not do its job and Texans were left without power in their homes,” he said in a statement. “ERCOT leadership gave the assurance that Texas’ power infrastructure was prepared for the winter storm, but the assurance was devastatingly false.”
“The lack of preparedness and transparency at ERCOT is unacceptable, and I welcome these resignations. The State of Texas will continue to investigate ERCOT and discover the full picture of what went wrong, and we will ensure that the tragic events of the past week is never repeated, ‘Abbott concluded.
In a statement to Fox News, ERCOT said it was “looking forward to working with the Texas legislature” and thanked “the outgoing board members for their service.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.