PUC appoints ex-ERCOT director to monitor power market in Texas. Texas politicians saw electricity deregulation as a better future. Further, many legislators were frustrated by the lack of accountability on the board, especially regarding the members of the board that would be unaffiliated members.. Dr. Melissa C. Lott, a senior research scholar at The Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University SIPA, announced the election of Talberg and Cramton on Twitter. $260,219,816. Talberg was elected as the chairwoman of ERCOT as a newcomer less than two weeks before the widespread power outages. CRYSTAL LAKE, Ill., March 01, 2023 -- ( BUSINESS WIRE )--AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE: ATR), a global leader in . I doubt you could find an expert anywhere that would say eliminating the independent experts from the ERCOT board was an improvement, Cramton said. He lives in Wheaton, a suburb in Chicago, Illinois. Talberg, who lives in Michigan, and Cramton, who lives in California,were elected to their posts as board chair and vice chair, respectively, on Feb. 9during a board meeting where leaders at the electric grid operator spent just 40 seconds discussing the upcoming storm. After an "exhaustive nationwide search" by ERCOT's Board of Directors, Pablo Vegas was chosen to take over as president and CEO of ERCOT, according to a release from the council. [50], ERCOT is governed by a board of directors and subject to oversight by the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUC) and the Texas Legislature. Three other ERCOT board members also appear to live . Huge lines form across Texas for water distribution in wake of storm. Carnival Cruise Line adding 4th ship to Galveston, offering longer cruises, Here's how to get tickets, passes for Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo 2023, Full Interview with Rodeo Headliner, Parker McCollum. Caitlin Smith, an energy adviser in Austin and an ERCOT expert, raised concerns about political appointees who arent subject matter experts having access to critical information. Mr. Anderson . ERCOT's Board of Directors on Tuesday elected newcomer Sally Talberg to a three-year term as its chair and six-year veteran Peter Cramton as its vice chair. Among the other two board members, who reside out of Texas, Terry Bulger has a career as a banking professional - completely different from the energy and electrical sector. FOX 26 Anchor Lina de Florias breaks down how much some of the political appointees donated to officials within weeks of their appointments. State lawmakers are now trying to change the way ERCOT is governed by requiring members to live in Texas and giving more board seats to political appointees changes that experts say may do little to improve the power grid. Ms. Talberg lives in Michigan with her husband and two daughters. Abbott to the Board of Directors of the Texas State Affordable Housing Corporation. That the tornado shelter or fraidy-hole as they call it on my folks farm. }) "Is ERCOT a government agency? AUSTIN - Gov. },false) According to political spending tracker Transparency USA, two of the three appointees are major donors to the Texas officials who appointed them. Ryan was appointed to the selection committee by . The ERCOT Board Selection Committee members are Arch "Beaver" Aplin, G. Brint Ryan, and Bill Jones. The PUC has primary jurisdiction over activities conducted by ERCOT. ERCOT is a world-class electric grid operator, and it is exciting to be part of this organization as it continues to evolve its markets, planning and operations in response to unprecedented change in the electric industry, she said. He is a retiree from ISO New England which operates the electrical system in six states. What percentage of Texas energy is renewable? [54], The ERCOT board appoints ERCOT's officers to direct and manage ERCOT's day-to-day operations, accompanied by a team of executives and managers responsible for critical components of ERCOT's operation. She is the vice president of regulatory and compliance at Just Energy. She began serving as an unaffiliated director on the board January 1, 2021. While Magness was . Five board members of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas the entity that manages and operates the electricity grid that covers much of Texas will resign on Wednesday, according to a notice to the Public Utility Commission. On May 4, 1976, Central Southwest Holdings attempted to force the issue, with an event that was later called the "Midnight Connection", where it connected the grid to Oklahoma for a few hours. "We are ordering an investigation into ERCOT and immediate transparency by ERCOT," he tweeted. Stay warm and safe! ERCOT has a 16-member board of directors. Texas has consistently refused to weatherize their energy infrastructure because it doesnt get cold here. Twitter users criticized her for her statement that described ERCOT favorably. ERCOT is a company that: . Thanks to the board for their support and ERCOT staff for the terrific orientation.. The ERCOT Board Selection Committee consists of Arch "Beaver" Aplin, G. Brint Ryan and Bill Jones. eventCategory: event.slot.getSlotElementId(), ERCOT has come under fire for its handling of widespread blackouts that left millions of Texans without power and water as the state faced subfreezing temperatures, snow and ice. Thanks to the board for their support and ERCOT staff for the terrific orientation. } Craig Ivey, who was slated to fill a vacant unaffiliated director position, withdrew his application. RELATED: Death toll rises to 210 from February winter storm in Texas. A candidate for another position on the board has withdrawn his application. Others are appointed by companies and consumers participating in the electricity market, with members representing various power sources. In a private company, a board of directors is a group of elected individuals representing the shareholders. It said, Weather, more generation outages last night bring load shed to 18,500 MW. Ivey also cited not wanting to become a distraction from the more important response to the crisis in his letter. Aplin, of Lake . According to the Council's . Perhaps it goes without saying but producing quality journalism isn't cheap. In counties around Beaumont in eastern Texas, Entergy suffered relatively few outages either, because of previous winterization efforts. ERCOT (Electric Reliability Council of Texas) manages the flow of electricity to more than 26,000,000 Texas customers. THIS is your morning update?! Obviously the downside is theyre political appointees looking after the political interests of those that appoint them.. ERCOT Board Selection Committee ; Ethics Commission, Texas Facilities . Three PUC commissioners, including the chair, are appointed by the governor of Texas. To allow state leaders a free hand with future direction and to eliminate distractions, we are resigning from the board.". Anesetti-Parra lives in Toronto. The board directors wrote that before they resign, they will launch the review of the power crisis. In 1970, ERCOT was formed to comply with NERC requirements. if(document.querySelector("#google_image_div")){ hitType: 'event', [31][32] Some retail electricity providers were possibly facing huge losses or bankruptcy,[33] and customers of Griddy reported receiving absurdly high electric bills. She began serving as an unaffiliated director on the board January 1, 2021. Listen: ERCOT briefly talks preparedness before Texas winter storm. The political appointees replace what are now called unaffiliated members, who mostly served as outside expert voices. The board has been criticized for last week's mass power outage during a winter storm that has claimed the lives of dozens of Texans. Their resignations will be effective at the end of the board's Wednesday meeting. hitType: 'event', Gov. State Sen. Carol Alvarado of Houston released a letter urging the Public Utility Commission of Texas to approve only residents of Texas to fill ERCOT board vacancies. Friday morning, ERCOT announced the removal of the emergency conditions. [57][58] The board was also criticized for its meeting days before the storm: though the meeting lasted more than two hours, the members spent less than a minute discussing storm preparations and readiness. [23], During a major cold-weather event in mid-February 2021, ERCOT declared a statewide emergency, due to a 34,000 MW shortfall in generation that caused widespread blackouts. At least five of the 15 people serving on the board of directors at ERCOT do not appear to live in Texas, according to online profiles. The Board of Directors appoints ERCOT's officers to direct and manage ERCOT's day-to-day operations, accompanied by a team of executives and managers responsible for critical components of ERCOT's operations areas. Solar: 5,381 MWh; More than 4.5 million customers were without power at one point last week. Years later, millions lost power. The questions included asking for information on what preparations were in place, how notice was given and what caused the sustained power loss. -- (BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 27, 2023-- Entegris, Inc. ( NASDAQ: ENTG ), a leading supplier of advanced materials and process solutions for the semiconductor and other high-technology industries, today announced the appointment of James (Jim) Anderson to its board of directors. The lack of preparedness and transparency at ERCOT is unacceptable. Talberg thanked the board at the time for their support and the staff for their orientation. I welcome the resignations, Abbott said. document.querySelector("#ads").addEventListener('click',function(){ As a nonprofit newsroom, we rely on members to help keep our stories free and our events open to the public. During the war, the grid was interconnected to other states and excess power generation was sent to industries on the Gulf Coast, providing a more reliable supply of electricity for production of metal and other material needed for the war.[19]. State officials criticized ERCOT amid the blackouts and state lawmakers scheduled legislative hearings for Thursday and Friday to discuss the outages. The vacancies will not immediately be filled. When asking for an appointment, say something like: "If you have any room on the board, I'd like to serve as one of the directors. Six board members of Texas' power grid operator have resigned after last week's blackouts left millions of people without electricity in brutal winter weather. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. the chair lives in Michigan and the vice chair is an economics prof in Cologne Germany. August 16, 2022 . Checkmarx Appoints Sandeep Johri as CEO; Co-founder and CEO Emmanuel Benzaquen Continues to Serve on the Board of Directors News provided by. Show us with your support. ERCOT officials have said it may be days before power is restored, The Dallas Morning News reported. Commissioner Talberg previously served as an analyst at the Michigan Public Service Commission, managed enforcement and contested cases at the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, and advised commissioners at the Public Utility Commission of Texas. Bulger worked in the banking sector for 35 years, including various positions with ABN AMRO Bank in Canada, Europe and the U.S., and lives in Wheaton, Illinois. The idea behind a BOD is to have a body that safeguards shareholders' interests as they are the firm's owner. document.querySelector("#adunit").addEventListener('click',function(){ The other board members currently represent regions across the state that make up the ERCOT grid as well as nonvoting members such as the chair of the Public Utility Commission, which oversees ERCOT. gads_event = event; Fifteen directors serve on the ERCOT board, including the four unaffiliated directors, whose resignations will be effective at the end of the meeting Wednesday. Net Assets. }) To allow state leaders a free hand with future direction and to eliminate distractions, we are resigning from the board, Talberg, Cramton, Bulger and Hepper wrote in the resignation letter. Among the changes was making ERCOT board members political appointees. Membership. [27] At 1:25a.m. on February 15, ERCOT began requesting blackouts from service providers. Bill Magness, an Austin resident, has been the . She called on ERCOT management to provide a chronology of key events and critical actions as well as data and explanations in response to the following questions, she wrote. Do you value our journalism? Im filing legislation this session requiring all @ERCOT_ISO officers and directors to be Texas residents. Three current members of the ERCOT board, including two appointed by Governor Greg Abbott, have contributed thousands to Abbott's campaign. L.M. Agree - This is unacceptable. There are multiple parking options available for those looking to attend the Houston Rodeo. Another resident blamed inefficient planning as the reason for the present crisis. 'An electrical island': Texas has dodged federal regulation for years by having its own power grid, "Our hearts go out to all Texans who have had to go without electricity, heat, and water during frigid temperatures and continue to face the tragic consequences of this emergency," the letter reads. Hepper, a former litigator for the U.S. Department of Justice, retired in 2018 from working for the grid operator that manages the six-state New England electric system and wholesale markets. He resides in Florida, according to an ERCOT announcement about his candidacy to the board. The Republican governor released an official statement on Twitter about the same. }); pic.twitter.com/9v5eGt18uJ, Sally Talberg (@SallyTalberg) February 9, 2021. EAST AURORA, N.Y., March 02, 2023 -- ( BUSINESS WIRE )-- Astronics Corporation (Nasdaq: ATRO), a leading supplier of advanced technologies and products to the global aerospace and defense .