Texas Public Utility Commission plans to call for operating power plants to work at full capacity
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After nearly six hours of discussion, the Texas Public Utility Commission said Thursday it has a plan to increase the electrical grid’s power generation.
The plan calls for operating all power plants in the state at full capacity when demand goes up during extremely hot or cold weather.
Not all power plants are currently generating power, some are idly sitting when the demand isn't high.
"It's a very complicated mechanism that they're looking to put in place that would likely be very expensive and that has very uncertain reliability results," electric grid expert Doug Lewin said.
The plan would be costly because power plants would be compensated for giving more power to the grid. The costs could fall on consumers because of the fluctuating cost of natural gas.
Some experts are hoping lawmakers in Austin will take up some of the proposals the Public Utilities Commission discussed during this ongoing legislative session, which is set to end in May.
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