
In February 2021, the state of
Texas
Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...
suffered a major
power crisis, which came about during three severe winter storms sweeping across the United States on
February 10–11,
13–17 (known as Winter Storm Uri), and
15–20. The storms triggered the worst energy infrastructure failure in
Texas
Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...
state history, leading to shortages of water, food, and heat. More than 4.5 million homes and businesses were left without power,
some for several days. At least 246 people were killed directly or indirectly,
with some estimates as high as 702 killed as a result of the crisis.
State officials, including
Republican governor
Greg Abbott
Gregory Wayne Abbott ( ; born November 13, 1957) is an American politician, attorney, and jurist who has served since 2015 as the 48th governor of Texas. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served from 2002 to ...
, initially erroneously blamed the outages on frozen
wind turbine
A wind turbine is a device that wind power, converts the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy. , hundreds of thousands of list of most powerful wind turbines, large turbines, in installations known as wind farms, were generating over ...
s and
solar panels
A solar panel is a device that converts sunlight into electricity by using photovoltaic (PV) cells. PV cells are made of materials that produce excited electrons when exposed to light. These electrons flow through a circuit and produce direct ...
. Data showed that failure to
winterize traditional power sources, principally natural gas infrastructure but also to a lesser extent wind turbines, had caused the grid failure,
with a drop in power production from natural gas more than five times greater than that from wind turbines.
Texas's power grid has long been separate from the
two major national grids to avoid federal oversight, though it is still connected to the other national grids and Mexico's; the limited number of ties made it difficult for the state to import electricity from other states during the crisis.
[Multiple sources:
*
*
* ] Deregulation of its electricity market beginning in the 1990s resulted in competition in wholesale electricity prices, but also cost cutting for
contingency preparation.
The crisis drew much attention to the state's lack of preparedness for such storms, and to a report from U.S. federal regulators ten years earlier that had warned Texas that its power plants would fail in sufficiently cold conditions. Damages due to the cold wave and winter storm were estimated to be at least $195 billion,
likely the most expensive disaster in the state's history.
According to the
Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), the Texas power grid was four minutes and 37 seconds away from complete failure when partial grid shutdowns were implemented.
During the crisis, some energy firms made billions in profits, while others went bankrupt, due to some firms being able to pass extremely high wholesale prices ($9,000/MWh, typically $50/MWh) on to consumers, while others could not, with this price being allegedly held at the $9,000 cap by ERCOT for two days longer than necessary, creating $16 billion in unnecessary charges.
Background
In 2011, Texas was hit by the
Groundhog Day blizzard between February 1 and 5, resulting in
rolling blackout
A rolling blackout, also referred to as rota or rotational load shedding, rota disconnection, feeder rotation, or a rotating outage, is an intentionally engineered electrical power shutdown in which electricity delivery is stopped for non-over ...
s across more than 75% of the state. Many roads around Houston were impassable, and
boil-water advisories were issued in several areas. Following this disaster, the
North American Electric Reliability Corporation
The North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) is a nonprofit corporation based in Atlanta, Georgia, and formed on March 28, 2006, as the successor to the North American Electric Reliability Council (also known as NERC). The original ...
made several recommendations for upgrading Texas's electrical infrastructure to prevent a similar event occurring in the future, but these recommendations were ignored due to the cost of winterizing the systems.
At the time the blackouts and failures in the power grid were likened to those that occurred in
December 1989, after which similar recommendations were made to the state government and ERCOT, which were similarly ignored.
On August 16, 2011, a 357-page report was released by the
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates the interstate transmission and wholesale sale of electricity and natural gas and regulates the prices of interstate transport ...
in response to the
February 2011 power outage in Texas.
In mid-February 2021, a
series of severe winter storms swept across the United States. This outbreak was due to the
polar jet stream
Jet streams are fast flowing, narrow air currents in the Earth's atmosphere.
The main jet streams are located near the altitude of the tropopause and are westerly winds, flowing west to east around the globe. The northern hemisphere and th ...
dipping particularly far south into the U.S., stretching from
Washington to Texas, and running back north along the
East Coast, allowing a
polar vortex to bring very cold air across the country, and spawning multiple storms along the jet stream track as a result. This weather phenomenon resulted in record low temperatures throughout Texas, with temperatures in
Dallas
Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...
,
Austin
Austin refers to:
Common meanings
* Austin, Texas, United States, a city
* Austin (given name), a list of people and fictional characters
* Austin (surname), a list of people and fictional characters
* Austin Motor Company, a British car manufac ...
,
Houston
Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...
and
San Antonio
San Antonio ( ; Spanish for " Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the third-largest metropolitan area in Texas and the 24th-largest metropolitan area in the ...
falling below temperatures in
Anchorage, Alaska
Anchorage, officially the Municipality of Anchorage, is the List of cities in Alaska, most populous city in the U.S. state of Alaska. With a population of 291,247 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it contains nearly 40 percent of ...
.

On February 10,
a winter storm formed north of the
Gulf coast
The Gulf Coast of the United States, also known as the Gulf South or the South Coast, is the coastline along the Southern United States where they meet the Gulf of Mexico. The coastal states that have a shoreline on the Gulf of Mexico are Tex ...
, dropping significant amounts of
sleet and ice on many states in the
Deep South
The Deep South or the Lower South is a cultural and geographic subregion of the Southern United States. The term is used to describe the states which were most economically dependent on Plantation complexes in the Southern United States, plant ...
and the
Ohio Valley
The Ohio River () is a river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing in a southwesterly direction from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to its mouth on the Mississippi River in Cairo, ...
, including Texas,
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States
Georgia may also refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Georgia (name), a list of pe ...
,
Louisiana
Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...
,
Arkansas
Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...
,
Tennessee
Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...
, as well as states on the East Coast.
A second storm developed off the
Pacific Northwest
The Pacific Northwest (PNW; ) is a geographic region in Western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though no official boundary exists, the most common ...
on February 13 and began to gradually develop into an organized storm as it tracked southward toward Texas. It grew even more organized as it turned toward the northeast U.S. before splitting in half — one half continuing into
Quebec
Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...
and the other moving out over the
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...
.
This storm, along with various other storms from the previous two weeks, resulted in over 75% of the
contiguous U.S. being covered in snow. This storm was directly responsible for nearly 10 million people losing power, with 5.2 million in the U.S. and 4.7 million in
Mexico
Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
.
A
third winter storm caused an additional 4 million power outages, and 29 deaths, with 23 in the U.S. and 6 in Mexico. At least 246 people lost their lives during the winter storms.
Causes
Immediate weather and power plant failures

The winter storm caused a record low temperature at
Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport
Dallas Fort Worth International Airport is the primary international airport serving the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex and the North Texas region, in the U.S. state of Texas.
It is the largest hub for American Airlines, which is headquartere ...
of on February 16, the coldest in North Texas in 72 years. Most Texan homes, which infrequently see low temperatures, have poor insulation and are heated with inefficient
electric resistance heaters, resulting in extremely high electricity demand.
Power equipment in Texas was not
winterized, leaving it vulnerable to extended periods of cold weather.
Natural gas power generating facilities had equipment freeze up and faced shortages of fuel. Texas Governor Greg Abbott and some other politicians initially said renewable energy sources were the cause for the power outages, citing frozen
wind turbine
A wind turbine is a device that wind power, converts the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy. , hundreds of thousands of list of most powerful wind turbines, large turbines, in installations known as wind farms, were generating over ...
s as an example of their unreliability.
Viral images of a helicopter de-icing a wind turbine said to be in Texas were actually taken in 2015 in Sweden.
However, wind energy accounts for only 23% of Texas power output.
Moreover, equipment for other energy sources such as natural gas power generating facilities either freezing up or having mechanical failures were also responsible.
Governor Abbott later acknowledged that coal, natural gas, and nuclear plants had played a role.
Five times more natural gas than wind power had been lost. When power was cut, it disabled some compressors that push gas through pipelines, knocking out further gas plants due to lack of supply.
ERCOT was aware on February 13 that blackouts would be likely and the grid would have to shut off more than 10% of its demand.
The next day, electricity demand exceeded 67.2 gigawatts, higher than what the grid operator had ever planned for in extreme winter weather. Overnight ERCOT ordered utilities to drop several thousand megawatts of load, but the
grid frequency continued to drop as demand exceeded supply. The grid came within minutes of overloading and shutting down completely, which would have required a slow and costly
black start.
Systematic issues
During the
2011 Groundhog Day blizzard, Texas had faced similar power outages due to frozen power equipment, after which the
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates the interstate transmission and wholesale sale of electricity and natural gas and regulates the prices of interstate transport ...
reported that more winterization of power infrastructure was necessary.
ERCOT said that some generators since then implemented new winter "best practices," but these were on a voluntary basis and mandatory regulation had not been established.
This is likely due to ERCOT's independence of the FERC therefore not having the necessary budget to upgrade the power grid to withstand colder weather after the recommendation during efforts to increase renewable energy sources.
Unlike other power interconnections, Texas does not require a reserve margin of power capacity beyond what is expected. A 2019 North American Electric Reliability Corporation report found that ERCOT had a low anticipated reserve margin of generation capacity and was the only part of the country without sufficient resources available to meet projected peak summer electricity demand.
Gov. Abbott's appointees to the
Public Utility Commission of Texas ended a contract with the Texas Reliability Entity in November 2020, reducing oversight of the grid. In July, Abbott's commissioners disbanded its Oversight and Enforcement Division, dropping pending cases that ensure reliability.
While not a direct cause, the Commission's minimal oversight of utility companies, limited budget, and voluntary standards restricted its ability to secure consistent performance.

There was not only insufficient power generation capacity online, but also insufficient natural gas supply to the power plants. The failure of some gas distribution infrastructure, which had not been adequately winterized, resulted in exceedingly high prices for natural gas. Some gas compressor stations lost power when utilities began shutdowns, and overall gas supply fell by 85%.
University of Texas professor
Michael Webber said, "This is the
moral hazard
In economics, a moral hazard is a situation where an economic actor has an incentive to increase its exposure to risk because it does not bear the full costs associated with that risk, should things go wrong. For example, when a corporation i ...
of the market which is when wind or solar or coal or nuclear underperforms, they lose money. And when gas power plants underperform they lose money. But when the gas producers underperform, they made money. And this is why the gas system gets a pass, which is it's very lucrative for it to fail, and that lucrative return shows up as political donations that curries favor that really gets the statewide officials to turn a blind eye to it."
Impact
By February 17, at least 21 people died from causes related to the winter storm.
By February 19, the number was updated to at least 32 people who died, with deaths linked to carbon monoxide poisoning, car crashes, drownings, house fires and hypothermia.
On February 21, the death toll had increased to 70. As of January 2, 2022, the total loss of life was reported to be 246,
with deaths in 77 counties.
Victims included children less than a year old to elderly up to 102 years old. Reports found that almost two-thirds died of hypothermia and that 148 deaths were directly caused by the storm, 92 deaths were indirectly caused by the storm, and 6 deaths were found as possibly caused by the storm.
Power outages
In addition to equipment problems, demand for electricity in Texas hit a record 69,692
megawatt
The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of Power (physics), power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantification (science), quantify the rate of Work ...
s (MW) on February 14 — 3,200 MW higher than the previous record set in January 2018 and 12,329 MW higher than its current capacity.
The
Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) initiated
rotating outages at 1:25am on February 15. However, a retrospective ''
Houston Chronicle
The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily newspaper in Houston, Houston, Texas, United States. it is the third-largest newspaper by Sunday circulation in the United States, behind only ''The New York Times'' and the ''Los Angeles Times''. ...
'' article a year later said peak demand was even higher: 76,819 megawatts on Feb. 16, 2021.
[''Houston Chronicle'']
"How devastating was 2021's deadly Texas freeze, exactly? Here's what the numbers say"
Erice Dexheimer, Jeremy Blackman (Austin Bureau), Feb. 11, 2022.
The rotating outages prevented electricity demand from overwhelming the grid, a scenario which could have caused equipment to catch fire and power lines to go down, potentially resulting in a much more severe blackout.
At the peak, over 5 million people in Texas were without power, with 11 million experiencing an outage at some point,
some for more than 3 days.
During the period of outages, the wholesale electric price was set to $9,000/
megawatt-hour
A kilowatt-hour ( unit symbol: kW⋅h or kW h; commonly written as kWh) is a non-SI unit of energy equal to 3.6 megajoules (MJ) in SI units, which is the energy delivered by one kilowatt of power for one hour. Kilowatt-hours are a commo ...
which was the "system cap" set by ERCOT, compared to a more typical $25/MWh.
Customers with
pricing plans based on wholesale prices who had power faced large bills. Some
Griddy customers signed up for wholesale variable rates plans allowed by the Texas deregulated electricity market found themselves facing over $5,000 bills for five days of service during the storm.
Wholesale prices were kept at an artificially inflated level of $9,000 for about four days, an amount normally only hit momentarily, in fear of instability even after electricity demand dropped. Total Texas electricity costs on February 16 alone reached $10.3 billion, greater than the $9.8 billion spent in all of 2020.
The legislature allowed issuance of about $5 billion in bonds to pay for it, or $200 per Texan.
The then-CEO of ERCOT testified under oath that Governor Abbot had ordered power prices to stay at this level, which led to the bankruptcy of the Brazos Electric co-op.
Food and water shortages
Water service was disrupted for more than 12 million people due to pipes freezing and bursting.
More than 200,000 people in Texas lived in areas where water systems were completely non-operational.
On February 17, residents of
Austin
Austin refers to:
Common meanings
* Austin, Texas, United States, a city
* Austin (given name), a list of people and fictional characters
* Austin (surname), a list of people and fictional characters
* Austin Motor Company, a British car manufac ...
were asked not to drip their faucets despite the risk of pipes freezing as the demand for water in the city was more than 2.5 times the amount supplied on the previous day. The city had lost more than of water due to burst pipes by February 18, according to Austin Water Director Greg Meszaros. Nearly 12 million people were advised to
boil their tap water before consumption due to low water pressure throughout the pipe network.
People were seen collecting water from the
San Antonio River Walk with trash cans.
Due to the inclement weather conditions and extensive power outages, most grocery stores statewide could not keep up with the increased demand for food and sundry items. Many stores were forced to close due to lack of power; the few that remained open completely ran out of most staple food items like bread, milk, and eggs. Officials also warned that the shortages could be long term, stating that 60% of the region's grapefruit crop and 100% of the orange crop were lost due to the weather.
Infrastructure

The inclement weather caused many fire hydrants to be unusable in emergency situations. In one case, firefighters near the San Antonio area had to rely on
water tender
A water tender, sometimes known as a water tanker, is a type of firefighting apparatus that specializes in the transport of water from a water source to a fire scene.[licensing
A license (American English) or licence ( Commonwealth English) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit).
A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another par ...]
requirements kept in place by Governor Abbott despite the legislature removing them, led to months-long waits for repairs.
Environmental consequences
Significant releases of pollutants due to stopping and starting fossil fuel infrastructure such as chemical plants and fuel refineries were reported. These included one ton of the carcinogen
benzene
Benzene is an Organic compound, organic chemical compound with the Chemical formula#Molecular formula, molecular formula C6H6. The benzene molecule is composed of six carbon atoms joined in a planar hexagonal Ring (chemistry), ring with one hyd ...
, two tons of
sulfur dioxide
Sulfur dioxide (IUPAC-recommended spelling) or sulphur dioxide (traditional Commonwealth English) is the chemical compound with the formula . It is a colorless gas with a pungent smell that is responsible for the odor of burnt matches. It is r ...
, 12 tons of natural gas, and 34 tons of
carbon monoxide
Carbon monoxide (chemical formula CO) is a poisonous, flammable gas that is colorless, odorless, tasteless, and slightly less dense than air. Carbon monoxide consists of one carbon atom and one oxygen atom connected by a triple bond. It is the si ...
.
Targa Resources' Wildcat and Sand Hills natural gas plants released four times the emissions of the nation's largest refinery during the freeze.
Health concerns
Carbon monoxide poisoning
The combination of below freezing temperatures with no power for heat led people to undertake dangerous ways of heating their homes. Deaths attributed to the storm include cases of
carbon monoxide poisoning
Carbon monoxide poisoning typically occurs from breathing in carbon monoxide (CO) at excessive levels. Symptoms are often described as " flu-like" and commonly include headache, dizziness, weakness, vomiting, chest pain, and confusion. Large ...
from people running their cars or generators indoors for heating.
At least 300 cases of carbon monoxide poisoning were reported.
COVID-19 response
The state's response to the
COVID-19 pandemic in Texas
The COVID-19 pandemic in Texas is a part of the ongoing viral pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a novel infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The state of Texas confirmed its ...
was somewhat hampered by the power outage. Water and grid supply were cut off from hospitals. Hospitals still were able to operate with their own power generators. Shipments of vaccines were delayed and facilities that would not be able to store vaccines properly were asked to transfer vaccines to those who could. In most cases, vaccinations were delayed because it was too dangerous for people to travel. About 1000 doses of vaccine were lost as a result of problems.
Hypothermia
Due to the continued power outages across the state, many were faced with freezing temperatures in their homes increasing a risk of
hypothermia
Hypothermia is defined as a body core temperature below in humans. Symptoms depend on the temperature. In mild hypothermia, there is shivering and mental confusion. In moderate hypothermia, shivering stops and confusion increases. In severe ...
. The freezing temperatures potentially caused the death of an 11-year old boy, an 84-year-old widow,
and a 75-year-old veteran,
among others. Zoo, domesticated, and wild animals were also at risk due to the low temperatures with animal sanctuaries and veterinary clinics identifying an increase in hypothermia cases in the animals.
Response
Government response
State
Governor Abbott issued a disaster declaration on February 12, whereby he mobilized various departments including the
Texas Military Department
The Texas Military Department (TMD) is an Government of Texas#State agencies, executive branch agency of the Government of Texas, Texas government. Along with the Texas Department of Public Safety, it is charged with providing the security of Tex ...
for snow clearance and assistance to stranded motorists. As the situation worsened, Governor Abbott requested a Federal Emergency Declaration on February 13, which President Biden approved on February 14.
In an effort to alleviate the energy shortage, Governor Abbott ordered natural gas producers not to export gas out of state and to sell it within Texas instead. He also called for the resignation of ERCOT leaders.
Former Representative
Beto O'Rourke
Robert Francis "Beto" O'Rourke ( , ; ; born September 26, 1972) is an American politician who served as the United States House of Representatives, U.S. representative for from 2013 to 2019. A member of the Democratic Party (United States) ...
ran a virtual phone bank to contact over 780,000 seniors across the state.
Colorado City, Texas, Mayor Tim Boyd faced extreme backlash after he made comments criticizing citizens for not preparing for the winter storm and stating: "the strong will survive and the weak will perish." He resigned following the controversy.
Senator
Ted Cruz
Rafael Edward Cruz (; born December 22, 1970) is an American politician and attorney serving as the junior United States senator from Texas since 2013. A member of the Republican Party, Cruz was the solicitor general of Texas from 2003 ...
faced heavy scrutiny over his trip to
Cancún, Mexico. Though he initially claimed he was dropping off his wife and daughters, text messages from his wife revealed the hastily planned nature of the trip as an escape from the freezing conditions. He received condemnation from his political allies and rivals for leaving the state during a crisis and traveling internationally during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Later that day, Cruz returned back to Texas admitting that the vacation was a mistake, receiving further criticism for appearing to blame his young daughters for the trip, claiming they begged him to go. Cruz on February 22 tweeted the news about the hike of electricity rates in Texas, calling "(s)tate and local regulators should act swiftly to prevent this injustice". This was criticized as hypocrisy because Cruz had been a strong advocate of the Texan power grid deregulation, one of the major cited reasons which led to this mass power outage.
Former governor
Rick Perry
James Richard Perry (born March 4, 1950) is an American politician who served as the 14th United States secretary of energy from 2017 to 2019 in the first administration of Donald Trump. He previously served as the 47th governor of Texas fr ...
said, "Texans would be without electricity for longer than three days to keep the federal government out of their business."
Federal
On February 14,
President Biden
Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice president from 2009 to 2017 and re ...
declared that an emergency existed in the State of Texas, authorizing the
Department of Homeland Security
The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the U.S. federal executive department responsible for public security, roughly comparable to the interior, home, or public security ministries in other countries. Its missions invol ...
and the
Federal Emergency Management Agency
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is an agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS), initially created under President Jimmy Carter by Presidential Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1978 and implemented by two Exec ...
(FEMA) to provide emergency assistance throughout Texas.
FEMA sent 60 generators, as well as water and blankets, to the state.
Community response
Local churches, community centers and other locations opened warming stations for affected individuals as well as asked for physical and monetary donations to help those affected. Several local mutual aid groups responded with supply delivery and distribution, particularly in the hard-hit Houston and Austin areas. Celebrities such as
Beyoncé
Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter ( ; born September 4, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and businesswoman. With a career spanning over three decades, she has established herself as one of the most Cultural impact of Beyoncé, ...
and
Reese Witherspoon
Laura Jeanne Reese Witherspoon (born March 22, 1976) is an American actress and producer. She is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Reese Witherspoon, various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy Aw ...
teamed up with companies to provide monetary relief, donated personally, and supplied donation links to their social media followers to raise relief and awareness. Through his
We're Texas virtual benefit concert,
Matthew McConaughey
Matthew David McConaughey ( ; born November 4, 1969) is an American actor. He achieved his breakthrough with a supporting performance in the coming-of-age comedy '' Dazed and Confused'' (1993). After a number of supporting roles, his first su ...
and his wife
Camila Alves McConaughey raised over $7.7 million to continue support for those affected by the storm.
Congresswoman
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (born October 13, 1989), also known as AOC, is an American politician and activist who has served since 2019 as the United States House of Representatives, US representative for New York's 14th congressional distric ...
organized a fundraiser to provide food, water, and shelter to affected Texans, raising $2 million in its first day. She followed up with a trip to Houston to help alongside volunteers with recovery. She along with other Democrats toured the damage left behind by the storm as well as distribution centers and delivery sites. In the end, she raised $4.7 million.
Aftermath
Power outages in
Harris County, Texas's most populated counties and one of its most affected, returned to normal around February 22, 2021.
Boil-water advisories lasted in some areas of Texas until February 27, 2021.
Investigations
On February 16, 2021, Governor
Greg Abbott
Gregory Wayne Abbott ( ; born November 13, 1957) is an American politician, attorney, and jurist who has served since 2015 as the 48th governor of Texas. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served from 2002 to ...
declared that ERCOT reform is an emergency priority for the
state legislature, and there would be an investigation of the
power outage
A power outage, also called a blackout, a power failure, a power blackout, a power loss, a power cut, or a power out is the complete loss of the electrical power network supply to an end user.
There are many causes of power failures in an el ...
to determine long-term solutions. The legislature held hearings with power plant chief executives, but not with natural gas industry leaders.
In March 2021,
Congress
A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...
launched an investigation into the power crisis by requesting documents relating to winter weather preparedness from the Texas electric grid manager and ERCOT.
The Railroad Commission blamed power producers for gas supply issues, even though its chair
Christi Craddick was aware of gas supply problems prior to the outages. Cold weather disrupted 22 gas processing plants two days before blackouts began.
The
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates the interstate transmission and wholesale sale of electricity and natural gas and regulates the prices of interstate transport ...
is investigating anomalies in the natural gas market, where companies may have illegally manipulated prices. Intrastate pipelines are not required to report their tariffs like interstate pipelines, making it harder to investigate. FERC was unable to say if there was price gouging.
Texas attorney general
Ken Paxton
Warren Kenneth Paxton Jr. (born December 23, 1962) is an American politician and lawyer who has served as the attorney general of Texas since 2015. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served in the Texas Senate representing the e ...
has not announced investigations into energy prices.
ERCOT
Five members of
ERCOT unaffiliated with Texas entities resigned due to the power failures. All five lived out of state and one lived in Canada.
The ERCOT board of directors voted to fire its CEO, Bill Magness, who turned down his $800,000 severance package.
ERCOT admitted that there could be blackouts in winter 2022, reporting that there was enough generation for "normal" winter weather.
PUC controversy
On March 1, 2021, DeAnn T. Walker, the chairwoman of the Public Utility Commission (PUC), the Texas agency responsible for overseeing ERCOT and the state's electricity grid, resigned after a week of tough questioning from Texas legislators at a round of hearings.
Governor Greg Abbott, who had originally appointed Walker, filled the vacant chairperson position by promoting PUC Commissioner Arthur D'Andrea two days later. On March 9, 2021, D'Andrea was recorded reassuring utility investors that he would protect their profits in a 48-minute call that was later leaked to the press. D'Andrea resigned his post a week later, two hours after the call was leaked.
At issue is $16 billion in alleged overcharges that accrued when the PUC issued orders requiring ERCOT set the price of electricity at the $9,000-a-megawatt-hour maximum for nearly two days after widespread outages ended late the night of February 17 instead of resetting the prices the following day. Power generation entities benefited from the inflated prices, but retail companies and entities that buy the generated power to sell directly to consumers have gone bankrupt.
Legislation
In March 2021, the Texas State Legislature introduced a package of bills that would put measures in place to prevent a future power outage in extreme temperatures. House Bill 11 defined extreme weather conditions to provide a guideline for regulators and industry to design around, and House Bill 14 would create the Texas Supply Chain Security and Mapping Committee to prioritize energy needs during extreme weather, but neither bill passed.
In May, the Legislature approved House Bill 4492, which sets up a loan plan for power companies but which excluded direct credits for consumers, and Senate Bill 3, which includes a requirement of certain gas facilities to weatherize. SB 3 limited weatherization requirements to "critical" facilities and excluded an amendment to provide grants for backup power at health care facilities.
The original version of the bill would have fined facilities that failed to weatherize, hired a hundred inspectors to ensure compliance, and created a committee to determine the most important gas facilities to power plants, but these provisions were removed by the
Texas House of Representatives
The Texas House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Texas Legislature. It consists of 150 members who are elected from single-member districts for two-year terms. There are no Term limits in the United States, term limits. The ...
.
Democratic proposals to require energy conservation,
increase penalties for failing to weatherize, and require progress within six months of enactment were excluded.
Governor Abbott said "everything that needed to be done was done to fix the power grid in Texas" when he signed the bill.
On June 8, 2021, Governor Abbott signed two bills to address Texas's power grid, Senate Bills 2 and 3. SB 2 changed the number of directors on ERCOT's Board from 16 to 11 and gives the state's politicians greater influence over the board.
The Railroad Commission then proposed a rule that would allow gas companies to claim their facilities were not prepared for winter operation and exempt themselves from weatherizing. This was condemned in a Senate committee hearing and replaced by a rule proposal without the opt-out provision, but it will not be finalized by winter 2022 and may not be strong enough.
Utility prices
To cover debt incurred due to high natural gas prices, utilities outside Texas have had to raise prices.
Oklahoma Natural Gas is charging customers up to $7.80 per month for the next 25 years to securitize its costs of $1.4 billion during the crisis. The natural gas industry reaped a windfall profit of $11 billion during the crisis.
Texas gas utilities were permitted by the Railroad Commission to issue bonds to cover what they paid to suppliers, to be paid off by customers. Municipal gas companies have also added surcharges to bills.
On February 16, 2021, the Texas PUC set wholesale electricity prices at $9,000 per megawatt-hour to, according to the commission, reflect the need for an increase in electricity production for the aftermath of the winter storm.
Because of this, Texans collectively have to pay roughly $37.7 billion in electric bills in the aftermath of the deadly winter storm.
Lawsuits
On February 19, 2021, a lawsuit was filed in
Nueces County and raised allegations against ERCOT, claiming that there were repeated warnings of weaknesses in the state's electric power infrastructure that were ignored. Also named in the lawsuit was the
American Electric Power utility company. An additional lawsuit against ERCOT was filed in
Fort Bend County. The company has raised claims of
sovereign immunity
Sovereign immunity, or crown immunity, is a legal doctrine whereby a monarch, sovereign or State (polity), state cannot commit a legal wrong and is immune from lawsuit, civil suit or criminal law, criminal prosecution, strictly speaking in mode ...
to the legal cases, a legal principle that protects some government agencies from lawsuits if the money spent on legal fees would disrupt "key government services". This defense has been used by ERCOT in other legal cases, and has been upheld by courts.
A class action lawsuit was filed against Texas electricity retailer
Griddy for potential price gouging by a
Chambers County resident after receiving a $9,000 bill for electricity during the week of the storm, compared to an average $200 bill.
CPS Energy in San Antonio filed a lawsuit against
Energy Transfer Partners saying it committed
price gouging
Price gouging is the practice of increasing the prices of goods, services, or commodities to a level much higher than is considered reasonable or fair by some. This commonly applies to price increases of basic necessities after natural disaste ...
, charging $500 per million
British thermal unit
The British thermal unit (Btu) is a measure of heat, which is a form of energy. It was originally defined as the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of one pound of water by one degree Fahrenheit. It is also part of the United Stat ...
() rather than a "reasonable" $40.
Thousands of lawsuits related to wrongful death, personal injury and property damage have been filed against a variety of defendants, including ERCOT, energy transmission companies and electricity providers.
The lawsuits have been consolidated in Texas multidistrict litigation.
In December 2023, the Texas Supreme Court ruled that ERCOT could not be sued based on the theory of sovereign immunity. In April 2024, a three-judge panel of the 14th Court of Appeals in Houston ruled that gross negligence claims against Oncor and other power distribution companies could proceed.
Preparation for future winters
Despite investigations and legislation after the power crisis that killed hundreds, as of January 2022, little has changed in the electricity system and Texas remains at risk of major blackouts in another winter storm.
Power company
Vistra, which is investing $80 million to prepare its plants for cold weather, says another power crisis could happen.
The gas industry is not similarly preparing to ensure operation and is resisting regulation by the
Railroad Commission of Texas
The Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC; also sometimes called the Texas Railroad Commission, TRC) is the state agency that regulates the oil and gas industry, gas utilities, pipeline safety, safety in the liquefied petroleum gas industry, and su ...
, which oversees the oil and gas industry but whose commissioners' campaigns are funded by it.
Gas production fell by 25% on January 2, 2022, when temperatures in West Texas fell to 14 degrees.
The CEO of a Texas-based manufacturer of process heating and freeze protection equipment said Texas has not invested in technologies for gas winterization, which would cost $85–200 million per year.
Governor Abbott said in November 2021, "I can guarantee the lights will stay on," though in February 2022 he said, "No one can guarantee that there won't be a load shed event."
A cold snap in February 2022 was not as cold or prolonged as that in 2021, so demand did not surpass supply even as 12% of natural gas systems failed.
See also
*
Energy crisis
An energy crisis or energy shortage is any significant Bottleneck (production), bottleneck in the supply of energy resources to an economy. In literature, it often refers to one of the energy sources used at a certain time and place, in particu ...
*
List of power stations in Texas
*
List of major power outages
*
2011 Groundhog Day blizzard, a similar storm where more than 75% of Texas was affected by rolling blackouts
*
Winter Storm Goliath, 2015 blizzard that killed more than 30,000 dairy cows in Texas
; Energy entities
*
Energy Information Administration
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System responsible for collecting, analyzing, and disseminating energy information to promote sound policymaking, efficient markets, and pub ...
(EIA)
*
Texas Reliability Entity (Texas RE)
References
Further reading
* 357 pages.
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Texas power crisis, 2021
Power crisis
Articles containing video clips
2021 power crisis
Emergency management in the United States
Energy crises
2021 power crisis
February 2021 in the United States
Power outages in the United States