When it gets really cold, it can be hard to produce electricity, as customers in Texas and neighboring states are finding out. It is a financial structure for power generation that offers no incentives to power plant operators to prepare for winter. In the name of deregulation and free markets, critics say, Texas has created an electric grid that puts an emphasis on cheap prices over reliable service. Greg Abbott (R) called Tuesday for reform of the state’s electric grid operator, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, or ERCOT. “In 2018 we had some very cold winter times, but we saw the generation fleets performed very well through that,” he said.
