The Federal Energy Leviathan

Transmission Trouble

The Public Utility Commission of Texas should pause implementation of ERCOT’s Strategic Transmission Expansion Plan (STEP) and carefully evaluate more affordable, reliable alternatives before committing Texans to the largest transmission projects in state history. While Texas faces growing electricity demand from population growth, industrial expansion, and data centers, STEP fails to address the state’s most...

Fool Me Twice: Why the Texas Grid is Still Vulnerable to Winter Storms | Part 3: How Texas Can Solve Its Winter Reliability Problem

Part 3: How Texas Can Solve Its Winter Reliability Problem Five years after Winter Storm Uri, the ERCOT grid is still not ready for the next major winter storm. The first two installments of this series showed that demand has grown more than 20% since 2021 while firm generation capacity has barely budged, and the...

Texas is About to Spend $100 Billion on Power Lines It Does Not Need

Our electric bills are about to go up. Most Texans have no idea why. Texas regulators approved $33 billion in new high-voltage power lines (the Strategic Transmission Expansion Plan, or STEP) without a single legislative vote. Factor in financing, maintenance, and taxes over the life of the projects, and the tab for ratepayers hits nearly...