Quote:
"When California was having power difficulties a several years ago CNN was eager to report this was due (partially) by deregulation, while never reporting that deregulation was working in Texas. "
Completely off topic, but De-regulation in Texas is a joke. Re-regulation is a better name, and all it has done is drive prices up for the consumer. As in California, the only ones profitting from de-regulation are the marketers that promoted it in the first place.
None of the Municipals or Coops were forced in and all of them have cheaper rates than the IOUs.
As for the DC ties, one of the steps preceeding the blackouts were to take advantage of all the available DC ties. Another was to ramp up any hydro that was available. Unexpectedly high temperatures and the unexpected and almost simultaneous loss of 1200 Mw of generation prompted the stage 4 rolling blackouts.
And as usual, the State's politicians (with 20/20 hind-site)are already ramping up their righteous indignation as to ERCOT's failings. Try betting any one of them $1000 at 10 to 1 odds that it will be 100+ degrees next April 17 in Austin TX. and see how many takers you get.