True but there was "no power" even if they wanted to use power...correct ??? Therefore, the high power bills must only involved those that had power...not those that had no power because of the blackout. Essentially those (the few) that had power were being charged ridiculous rates while the rest of the neighbors were in blackout. I say the above because there's a story about a Canadian woman that recently moved to Texas and they had no power...her bill was normal. During the blackout...her neighbor across the street had power...they stayed with him for a few days. He had a 4k electricity bill. Yet, his electricity bill would have been much higher had he not had a fireplace. wrbtrader
Hopefully they got a warning (alert) about the change in electricity rates that will begin at a certain time. wrbtrader
My post was meant as a joke. Although buildings have circuit breakers, most people don't switch theirs on and off too often. Not everyone lost power, and most Texans don't choose a market rate power plan. http://powertochoose.org/
ERCOT Is Refusing to Release Records On How it Prepared for the Winter Storm The nonprofit corporation is asking Ken Paxton’s office for permission to ignore requests seeking information on the costliest winter storm in the state’s history. https://www.texasobserver.org/ercot...ords-on-how-it-prepared-for-the-winter-storm/ The Electric Reliability Council of Texas—the corporation at the center of the power grid failure that left millions of Texans with heat or power last month and dozens of deaths—is refusing to turn over records related to its preparation for and response to Winter Storm Uri. In a letter sent to Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office last week, ERCOT argued that it’s not subject to state open records law because they aren’t a public agency and have asked the AG’s office to rule as such. Paxton’s office didn’t respond to inquiries seeking a timeline for its decision on the ERCOT letter, but generally the office has 45 business days to make a ruling on requests. Joe Larsen, a Houston-based attorney who sits on the board of the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas, an open records advocacy organization, says the refusal could spur a legal fight and possibly end up at the state Supreme Court’s doorstep. “There are going to be a bunch of people out there” seeking information from the electric grid operator, Larsen says. ERCOT’s oversize impact in everyday Texans’ lives, along with its central role in the blackouts and its outright refusal to comply with state open records law, could mean a hotly argued and closely followed legal case. In late February, the Observer submitted two public information requests to ERCOT related to the storm. One asked for emails and text messages from select ERCOT board members and top staffers before, during and after the polar vortex hit Texas. The second requested ERCOT’s communications with Vistra Energy, a Texas-based energy corporation company that claims it warned the grid operator of the impending danger days before the storm. The requests were intended to help answer questions about the disastrous power outage: How much warning did ERCOT have in advance of the storm and how did they prepare? How did ERCOT implement “rolling” blackouts across the state? And, ultimately, who’s to blame for the biggest power failure in the state’s history? In its letter to Paxton’s office, ERCOT claims that it isn’t subject to state open records law because it already has a separate system for disseminating records that was set up by the Public Utilities Commission (PUC). The PUC is the state agency that oversees ERCOT. Attorneys with Hance Scarborough, the law firm representing ERCOT in its bid to withhold records, write that the nonprofit is under the “complete authority” of the PUC; therefore the PUC should get to decide which records are released, not the attorney general. Despite PUC and ERCOT’s arrangement, the PUC does not hold ERCOT’s records, and state law requires the request be made to the entity who holds the records. Only ERCOT holds ERCOT’s records; the PUC simply has the final say in what gets released. (The Observer has also filed a request under ERCOT’s separate records system.) “These kinds of crazy structures are just not in the public interest,” says Adrian Shelley, director of the consumer rights group Public Citizen. “And if ERCOT is in part to blame for the recent disasters, then one would think that additional public oversight is in the public interest.” ERCOT’s predecessor was formed in the 1930s by a group of utility companies for the express purpose of creating a grid independent of the federal government, says David Spence, a professor of business, government, and society at the University of Texas at Austin’s School of Law. “It was a funny little private organization just designed to avoid federal regulation,” he says. ERCOT came into its current form in 1970, but the nonprofit has still maintained its independence; after February’s deadly storm, ERCOT said it had “sovereign immunity” against lawsuits. In Texas, anyone can ask a public agency for a record, and the agency has to comply or provide a reason why it won’t. If the agency refuses to hand over information, it will frequently ask the attorney general’s office for permission to withhold records. There are numerous legal loopholes that agencies employ to keep information out of the people’s hands and the list of exemptions grows after every legislative session. The AG, who has an office dedicated solely to open records, weighs any exemptions claimed by an agency and determines whether they have to give you what you asked for. Paxton’s office didn’t respond to a request for comment. ERCOT did not respond to questions regarding the number of records requests it has fielded from good governance groups, industry analysts, news organizations, and regular people who want information on what happened during Winter Storm Uri. However, the nonprofit did email a list of the power generators that “had issues” during the storm to reporters on Thursday, along with the employment agreement between ERCOT and former President and CEO Bill Magness, who was fired this week. It wasn’t clear whether those disclosures were connected with ERCOT’s refusal to hand over other information. The last notable open records case involving a nonprofit that serves traditional government functions was in 2015, when an economic development corporation called Greater Houston Partnership refused to turn over documents related to its activities. A requester wanted to know what the powerful business consortium that oversees the city’s economic development activities did with taxpayer money but the nonprofit fought the request all the way to the state Supreme Court. Justices eventually sided with the Greater Houston Partnership, but they also set a standard: If a significant portion of a nonprofit’s funding comes from the public, then the public gets access to its records. ERCOT argues this standard doesn’t apply. In its letter to Paxton, ERCOT admits that its funding stream of “system administration fees” could be considered public funds: “The system administration fee that funds ERCOT’s operations is collected pursuant to the State’s police power. Some requestors may therefore argue that ERCOT is a ‘governmental body’ because it ‘is supported in whole or in part by public funds,’” the letter reads. The statewide laws governing public information in Texas were created in the early 1970s partially to standardize records requests across the state. Before that, Texas had a piecemeal system with no overarching legislation regarding open records. Larsen says that the separate set of records laws the PUC created for ERCOT runs afoul of the spirit of the Public Information Act. “This just can’t possibly fly where the PUC gets to set up its own parallel to the Public Information Act and gets to decide what its own exceptions are,” Larsen says.
As Californians have ruined the states of Washington and Oregon with their idiotic, extreme liberal politicians, they will do the same thing to Texas if Texans are dumb enough to let the RINO liberals and Democrats get to the top levels of power. Think Attorney General and Governor. Look at the mess with election fraud with Georgia, Arizona, etc. Extreme liberal RINO governors and Attorney Generals will not lift their little pinkies to seriously investigate allegations of massive election fraud. Instead, they look the other way and sweep it under the rug and act like nothing happened? Do you really want those RINO liberals running your states?
I have not paid attention to the fraud... I found the possibility so disheartening, I did not want to look further into it. But, if Republicans do not do something to secure the vote... we will be a one party country. If its true voting machines were connected to the web... I wonder when they come for every citizen's freedoms.
American Republicans have been slowly migrating to Canada for +20 years. I know when I moved to Canada many years ago...most of us moved from California, Idaho, South Dakota, North Dakota, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee and Ohio. I say the above states because I remember the day I purchased my home here in Canada...that same day I went to a museum interactive show about migration of Americans and Europeans to Canada... When they talked about the Americans (Republicans)....they primarily mentioned the above states especially a migration of Native Americans that essentially lost faith in the GOP. I saw immigration statistics, years ago, that 635,000 Americans are living here in Canada although the below article states 620,000. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/national-republican-democrat-voters-in-canada-1.5303171 https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/mont...anada-vote-in-presidential-election-1.5783241 About 1/2 of the Republican Americans I know and living here in Québec...voted for Trump in 2016. Different story in 2020 in which almost (+80%) voted for Biden in an effort to help get rid of the buffoon (common reference to Trump here in Québec) although many felt let down that they didn't win Florida for Biden. My point, migration out of the United States has been more beneficial to the Democrats in 2020 in comparison to 2016 migration via absentee voting. In fact, there has been a 20 fold increase in immigration from the United States to Canada...many of whom over 18 years of age and able to vote in the U.S. elections. In contrast, children of Canadian Americans...typically gain American citizenship at birth and later become eligible to vote in the U.S. elections at 18... Most of them are greatly influence by Canada politics but tend to vote Democrat in the U.S. elections. It's not all about Trump (they call if the Trump Bump)...its more about overall politics, healthcare, education and so on. +600k may not seem like a large number of Americans living abroad in Canada but the number goes to about +2 million people in American being influenced about their politics by that +600k Canadians via relatives and close friendships still living in America. Simply, when the above states lose Republicans to Canada...those Republicans begin to change their political beliefs after many years living abroad out of the United States. Statistically, they do not go back to the GOP. P.S. Some of the above states will be doing some redistricting (redraw legislative districts) based upon the most recent U.S. Consensus. Ethnic communities have been growing in numbers and in political strength... One of the above mention states won by Trump in 2020...will fall to the Democrats in 2024 as I warned last year that a southern stronghold for the Republicans will fall to the Democrats...I thought it would be North Carolina but instead they got Georgia (even better). P.S.S. There's been a rural flight (migration / exodus out of the rural areas) from a few of the above mentioned U.S. states plus a growth in the Ethnic Minority communities. Seriously, how in the hell did Trump get +74 million votes ??? wrbtrader
Wind, rain, snow, mudslides, drought, and fire danger all at the same time. California truly does have it all!
Welcome to the four seasons in California; earthquake season, fire season, mudslide season, and riot season.