Texas Grid Becomes Unified

Electrical Grid Becomes Unified as Texans Start to Get Choice of Providers
Source: Austin American-Statesman
Publication date: 2001-06-01
Arrival time: 2001-06-04

Jun. 1--After years of careful negotiation and planning, the pilot program
for Texas' competitive retail electricity market starts today -- more or
less.
The state agencies responsible for ensuring the reliability of the
electricity grid are phasing in customer changes more slowly than first
planned to make sure Texas isn't beset by errors that could cause the type of
power outages routine in parts of California.
"As the systems testing started, it became clear it would take a little
longer to get the systems in place," said Terry Hadley, a spokesman for the
state Public Utility Commission.
Though the pilot program involves at most 5 percent of the customers of
utilities that are entering the competitive market, it will be closely
watched as a test of whether the full program will work when it starts Jan.
1. The delay won't mean much in practice; -- customers who switch to a new
provider probably will get their first new bill in August rather than July.
The delay comes as the Electric Reliability Council of Texas Inc., which
manages the statewide grid, moves from a system of 10 regional power controls
to a unified system. ERCOT, as the agency is called, today is scheduled to
dedicate its new, 45,000-square-foot facility near Austin-Bergstrom
International Airport.
"We're making progress every day," ERCOT Chief Executive Tom Noel said in a
statement. "We want to be fast, but we insist on getting it right. These are
complex computer and communications systems, and we need to take some time to
test and debug them."
ERCOT is one of the three big power grids in the United States and the only
one contained to one state. Its 37,000 miles of transmission lines cover
about 85 percent of Texas. The Panhandle and South Plains areas in Northwest
Texas and parts of East and Southeast Texas are connected to the other grids.
ERCOT is akin to a railroad switching station, making sure that power can
move from plants to consumers through a network of transmission lines and
connection facilities.
The advantage of a self-contained grid works only if enough power is
generated and there are enough transmission lines to move it. Twenty-two
plants have opened since 1995. Deregulation advocates say the power-plant
building binge should ensure adequate power for Texas.
The new ERCOT system is expected to be able to handle about 21,000 customer
switches each day by July 6. Switching a customer to a new provider should
take about two weeks.
The deregulated market for electricity works like long-distance telephone
service. Customers of publicly held utilities such as Reliant Energy Inc. and
TXU Corp. can choose among providers serving their area, scouting for the
cheapest price. TXU serves about 55,000 customers in Williamson and
neighboring counties. The City of Austin is not required to open its market
to competition and has not announced any intention of doing so.
The pilot program has been very successful with large business and industrial
customers, but only 53,000 residential customers statewide have signed up.
Most of those were in Reliant's home base of Houston; the company is more
than halfway to the 5-percent mark. TXU has filled about 20 percent of the
slots available for residential customers, virtually all in the Dallas-Fort
Worth area, while other companies have only had a few people switch.
Marketing has been focused on major cities, Hadley said, and companies that
primarily serve more rural areas have not necessarily found it worthwhile to
get the word out at this point.
Several consumer-advocate groups filed a petition with the PUC last week,
claiming that even when the information gets out, it is often misleading,
confusing or incomplete.
Some customers in outlying areas say the effort it takes to get the
information makes switching hardly worth it.
Frank Mathewson of Round Rock said he requested a list of retail electric
providers for his area, which is served by TXU, from the state's deregulation
initiative, the PUC's Power to Choose program.
"They were supposed to have sent me information on everybody, and I have
never gotten any," he said. "After a while, I'll just give up."
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