Consumer Costs at Heart of Conflict Between ERCOT and the Independent Market Monitor

Texas energy consumers need relief, and they aren’t getting it from ERCOT. 

Over and over, the agency’s policy choices have drifted toward the expensive — policies all-but designed to run up power bills — and away from cheaper, more effective solutions that protect consumers and the grid.

This ideological recklessness inevitably ran up against the state’s Independent Market Monitor (IMM), a position created to ensure that Texans are represented and protected when ERCOT market changes are made. The battle between ERCOT and the IMM has been steadily building for months, and it will likely crescendo tomorrow at the ERCOT Board meeting. 

I don’t think either side is 100% right. It’s complicated. What’s not in question is that billions of dollars are at stake in this spat, as are key aspects of grid reliability. It all comes down to ancillary services — backup energy reserves that help determine whether the lights stay on in Texas…