Hi JE longs, here is WHY Ercot increase the price of energy. Some power equipements to generate electricity were frozen or run of fuel...so its reduced the offering compared the increase of demand and CREATED a distortion between offer VS demand. The price never should be that high. Energy retailers should not be penalized and paid the bills for that power equipements failure. I hope and I think JE will go through that shituation very soon and get back as business as usual. GLTA Gaillard
By Alexander Gladstone and Andrew Scurria
The Texas grid operator has held talks with financial institutions including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. about potential financing options to address a shortfall in electricity payments as some market participants balk at paying their share, according to people familiar with the matter.
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas has held preliminary discussions with investment bankers from Goldman Sachs about measures, such as a potential credit facility, that would cover amounts that energy retailers haven't paid for the electricity they bought during last month's energy crisis, these people said.
Ercot, which acts as the payment clearinghouse for electricity buyers and sellers, has issued large bills for power purchased as a winter freeze swept the state, spiking energy prices.
Some municipal utilities, electric cooperatives and electricity retailers have disputed the bills, while others have declared bankruptcy or signaled they might seek court protection. Ercot said Thursday it was short nearly $3.1 billion in required payments, having previously said it was short $2.1 billion.
On Friday, San Antonio's public power utility CPS Energy filed a lawsuit against Ercot, seeking to prevent the grid operator from seeking to recoup from CPS the costs that other energy retailers haven't paid.
For a brief period last month as a winter storm swept Texas, Ercot ordered prices to go to the maximum level of $9,000 a megawatt hour, compared with the average price of roughly $22 a megawatt hour in 2020. The move was intended to spur generators to produce more power, but many of them had frozen equipment or were unable to access fuel and couldn't generate electricity for any price.
CPS, which ran up $1.1 billion in costs buying electricity and natural gas last month, said Ercot's "extreme confiscatory prices have caused many providers within the Ercot system to become insolvent," with as many as 22 market participants at risk of failing.
When market participants can't settle their bills, Ercot normally spreads the cost among the remaining electric retailers, municipal power companies and others purchasing electricity. CPS said Ercot was attempting to place the "inequitable burden" of its own failures on CPS and its customers.
Ercot didn't immediately respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit, filed in Bexar County District Court.
"We are fighting to protect our customers from the financial impacts of the systemic failure of the Ercot market and the outrageous and unlawful costs associated with that failure," CPS Energy President and CEO Paula Gold-Williams said.
Goldman and other institutions have floated the idea of arranging a credit facility to cover the shortfall and stabilize the state energy market, the people familiar with the matter said. The discussions are fluid and Ercot may not pursue such a deal, the people said.
Ercot let power prices soar during the storm as demand for electricity spiked and some power generators couldn't function due to fuel shortages and frozen equipment.
So far, invoices stemming from the winter storm have caused two major bankruptcy filings from energy players in the state. Brazos Electric Power Cooperative Inc., the state's largest electric energy cooperative, filed for chapter 11 last week, followed by retailer Just Energy Group Inc., which sought protection in the U.S. and Canada on Tuesday.
Several other retailers are disputing their invoices. Ercot on Thursday identified Brazos as owing the most, at more than $1.86 billion, followed by Rayburn Country Electric Cooperative Inc. with more than $570 million outstanding.
An independent market monitor has said that Ercot overcharged by $16 billion during the severe weather, and that it should conduct a repricing to provide relief to companies and municipalities that purchased the expensive power. On Thursday, the monitor said that while it still estimates that $16 billion in overcharges occurred, the most that could be recovered for consumers was $3.2 billion.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and other elected leaders have put pressure on the Public Utility Commission of Texas, which oversees Ercot, to reverse the overcharges.
Arthur C. D'Andrea, the commission's chairman, has voiced his opposition to repricing, saying it would be like trying to unscramble an egg and could create problems by clawing back money from generation companies and cooperatives.
Mr. D'Andrea is currently the sole member of the commission after former commissioner Shelly Botkin resigned Monday and DeAnn Walker stepped down as chairwoman earlier this month.
Austin Energy, the municipal utility for the city of Austin, made a filing to the commission saying that no repricing should take place for the dates of February 18-19 when the extreme price spikes occurred.
"Retroactively repricing the market for the 32 hours in question would create long-term regulatory uncertainty and diminish the confidence of all market participants," said Austin Energy, which owns generation assets and distributes power to consumers.
Write to Alexander Gladstone at alexander.gladstone@wsj.com and Andrew Scurria at Andrew.Scurria@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 12, 2021 10:46 ET (15:46 GMT)