How bad did ERCOT drop the ball?
Let's see, $$$$$$ of damage and at minimum so far, 12 people dead simply from having no electricity.

The media and ERCOT claiming they decisions "helped and saved" from bigger disasters?

I don't believe a word the media says these days!

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As bad as ERCOT may (or may not) be, I promise you the Feds can make it worse. And at the same time make it more expensive.

20 other states have lower average electricity costs than Texas. Which frankly is bizarre given our access to fossil fuels.

Looks to be mostly states with moderate/temperate climates; but Oklahoma really stands out at #10--they get extremely cold and extremely hot every year.

Maybe number of nuclear power plants and population and population density are significant factors also.

The data I pulled showed Oklahoma at the cheapest, 8.8 cents per kWh on average. Louisianan and Georgia both cheaper than Texas. Anyway, the point is Texas doesn't have some magic formula here. The best solution in my mind are Nuclear Power Plants. Clean, safe, cheap. It's far easier to winterize a few dozen nuclear plants than it is to winterize tens of thousands of gas wells, wind mills, and solar panels.

God's Country

You may find this of interest:
https://www.power-grid.com/td/for-texas-the-past-was-not-prologue-in-the-2021-electricity-fiasco/

Amen to that

Where did you pull data from? I looked at the Federal site yesterday and Texas was 43rd out of 51 (includes DC).

From the article"
But what happened in Texas on February 14-18, 2021 was an event that was not foreseen and could not have been predicted mostly because of the sheer numbers involved. Because the temps were so cold and so many generators couldn’t generate electricity (another article for another time) ERCOT turned to rolling blackouts. But, the rolling blackouts that should normally only last a couple of hours turned into multiple days and that led to all kinds of disastrous consequences.

Like machinist, my brother has worked at the NRG plant at Jewett for 30+ years. He works on the old coal burners and they were not given permission to start generating until Monday Feb 15. This came from the Fed's and was a little late. You can't take a huge plant like that and get her up and generating with the flip of a switch. Now factor into that challenge the severe cold and it becomes even more difficult.

I haven't heard how many plants were offline prior to Feb 15 but things certainly would have been different if they had brought them online the week prior.

Relieved to see Constellation confirming my fixed rate. Note the temp difference from the previous week.

Then explain why recommendations weren't followed from 2011. I suspect it was because the PUC feared upsetting energy-related political donors. Recommendations were made at that time instead of mandates. Big difference. Smells of politics to me. Let's see what happens this time. Abbott's rant means nothing until we see some actions that speak.

I figured it out, ercot hired amerigas to run the grid.

has to be it.