ERCOT will not be held responsible for the grid failure during the 2021 ice storm.
The Texas Supreme Court on Friday dismissed lawsuits against the utility company.
The ruling granted immunity to the organization from lawsuits filed after power grid failures and lives lost during Winter Storm Uri, which arrived in Texas on February 14, 2021.
Only a day later, ERCOT forecast that power demand would be over 74,000 megawatts; however, net generation and demand did not exceed 50,000, falling short of expectations, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
This failure in the grid left thousands of Texans without power. Weather-related instances had also claimed the lives of multiple Texans.
The Texas Department of Health and Human Services reported in December 2021 that a total of 246 weather-related deaths had occurred over the duration of the storm.
“The 246 confirmed winter storm-related deaths occurred across 77 Texas counties. Among the 244 (99.2%) decedents with available state residency information, 229 (93.9%) were Texas residents, and 15 (6.1%) resided in other states or countries,” the DHHS said in 2021.
Texas’ Fifth Court of Appeals had originally found that ERCOT was not a full-fledged arm of the government and thus has no immunity from lawsuits, such as that from San Antonio’s municipal electric utility, according to Dallas Morning News.
The Texas Supreme Court has, however, overturned this decision, ruling unanimously that it is indeed a governmental organization and thus under governmental protection. The Court also ruled five to four granting the organization this immunity.
Chief Justice Nathan L. Hecht wrote for the court stating that ERCOT’S nature as a government can be found in the “level of control and authority the state exercises over it and its accountability to the state.”
“ERCOT operates under the direct control and oversight of the PUC, it performs the governmental function of utilities regulation, and it possesses the power to adopt and enforce rules pursuant to that role,” stated Hecht, according to court documents. “In addition, recognizing immunity satisfies the “political, pecuniary, and pragmatic policies” underlying immunity because it prevents the disruption of key governmental services, protects public funds, and respects separation of powers principles,” he continued.
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