Still a hectic afternoon for the utilities world, even if we aren't in ERCOT up here. A couple of things that are going on:
U.S. Sen. John Cornyn's office called to clarify that the senator believes state bankruptcy and other ideas deserved consideration, but that he did not favor any specific or intend to introduce legislation to accomplish it.
Very unscientific reader reception so far has been mixed -- over at Facebook it was called a "rotten idea" that didn't apply to Texas (a state constitutional amendment pretty well blocks the state from digging this kind of hole); another public comment on Lubbockonline said the concept was overdue.
I'm still interested, and now there's about three different spots where you can weigh in. Would you want to live in a state declared bankrupt? Would you want to pay taxes in one that can't?
Texas Tribune's Kate Galbraith gave a great breakdown of yesterday's, well, great breakdown in downstate power generation. The compressor problems described in that piece also explain why yesterday Atmos Energy asked its customers on the South Plains to curtail their own usage, something local spokeswoman Marinda Heinrich said a few minutes ago was no longer necessary.
But NG curtailments remain in effect out here for a different customer. Xcel Energy earlier today asked electricity users across the region to lower their thermostats and turn off unnecessary lights because it had become tougher to buy natural gas. I'm still checking to understand why these very different classes of customer are having such different experiences satisfying NG demand.
And, just something to think about: this kind of issue hits at the heart of the dilemma WTMPA faces on signing up for their electric generation mix. Sunday's story focused on prices. No one who talked to me considered that it would somehow be difficult in Texas to access natural gas, but Wednesday, we and the experts who will need to fix the problem learned how it could happen.
Elliott Blackburn is responsible for this content, which is not edited by the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal.
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