why is Texas power often failing or skyrocketing in price?
In: Engineering
The Texas power grid is unique in that it is not connected to the wider power grid in the US, or at least has limited connectivity to it.
Since Texas isn’t well connected to the outside grid they aren’t able to import power from other States when they need it.
This comes from a misplaced deeply rooted hatred of the Federal government and associated bureaucracy. When the Texas power grid was built they had an insistence on doing things themselves and controlling their own power grid and associated regulations.
As a result many US wide rules meant to protect power grid customers don’t apply to Texans.
Variable rate plans are common in Texas. You don’t pay a fixed rate per Kilowatt but rather your rate varies based on the market rate which varies with supply and demand.
Normally this means you pay less for power, and so long as you shift high demand activities like charging your car off peak hours, you can save a lot of money. However during peak periods like now where the need for AC is driving up costs across the State the market rate can suddenly sky rocket leaving people with crazy bills.
This last came up in the news in February 2021 when a freak winter storm caused power failures all over the state and caused market rates to sky rocket. Since most of the power grid was down, the handful of remaining power stations couldn’t supply everyone and the market rate per kilowatt skyrocketed. Those few that had power ended up with massive bills that month.
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