Blackouts Cascade Beyond Texas in Deepening Power Crisis

[Breccia]

Gov. Abbott blocks energy companies from disconnecting people who couldn't pay their $17,000 electric bill.

While this is welcome relief, it's not a solution. I think Texas should expect, nay, demand a more appropriate solution -- something along the lines of "Texas govt. does an investigation to see how much of that price hike was really required, taxpayers pay that part, anyone found gouging is sued into homelessness by next winter, see how they like it"

[downnola]

All I want to know is when Biden is going to get off his ass and head to Texas to hand out paper towel rolls via fadeaway jumpshots. Clearly, he doesn't know how to president, smh.

[gondrin]

All I want to know is when Biden is going to get off his ass and head to Texas to hand out paper towel rolls via fadeaway jumpshots. Clearly, he doesn't know how to president, smh.

Nah, if he were the former president, he would just demand praise or withhold funding or help.

[Edge-]

All I want to know is when Biden is going to get off his ass and head to Texas to hand out paper towel rolls via fadeaway jumpshots. Clearly, he doesn't know how to president, smh.

I believe Ted Cruz is filling that role with his empty parking lot water bottle photo-op.

[Thekri]

Gov. Abbott blocks energy companies from disconnecting people who couldn't pay their $17,000 electric bill.

While this is welcome relief, it's not a solution. I think Texas should expect, nay, demand a more appropriate solution -- something along the lines of "Texas govt. does an investigation to see how much of that price hike was really required, taxpayers pay that part, anyone found gouging is sued into homelessness by next winter, see how they like it"

I find it strange to penalize the power companies when it was the government run commission that specifically told them to jack up the prices.

This wasn't written by a power company, and it was signed by two Abbott appointees:

The Commission believes this outcome is inconsistent with the
fundamental design of the ERCOT market. Energy prices should reflect scarcity of the supply. If
customer load is being shed, scarcity is at its maximum, and the market price for the energy needed
to serve that load should also be at its highest.

Yeah, it is disgusting, but when the government specifically tells you to charge the highest possible market price, then maybe the investigation should be looking at the government as well. I am not saying the power company has clean hands here, but the biggest fuckup seems to be with ERCOT, who literally authorized that price gouging, then tried to backtrack after it blew up in their face.

[Rasulis]

The problem with large electricity bills for household on variable rates is just the tip of the looming financial iceberg.

So far several TX electrical providers have failed financially. Several thousand of their subscribers have been unknowingly have their service transferred to the so called Provider of the Last Resort.

The providers with the financial wherewithal to keep supplying electricity during the debacle are now in deep financial holes. Atmos Energy, a Dallas based provider, is in the hole for 3.5 billion. Atmos is not alone. Somewhere down the line, they are going to want to recoup those losses.

As long as they are spending money, TX may also want to look at the their water distribution system. I looked at some of the photographs of water main breaks that came out of TX. I saw one picture from Austin of a ductile iron pipe on a street with less than 24 inches of cover and no bedding. I have never seen anything less than 48 inches of cover for ductile iron pipe in San Diego and always with either 3/4-inch crushed rock or sand bedding.

[Edge-]

https://www.tmz.com/2021/02/22/ted-c...cancun-mexico/

Ted Cruz may have cut his Cabo vacation short, coming home last week instead of his originally planned Saturday return. He may have even brought his college roommate on his "spontaneous" trip to bring his pre-teen daughters down to Cabo to party with friends. His wife may have been actively planning this getaway with friends beforehand.

But he's got his mariachi band, so when he's not staging photo ops he can enjoy a taste of Mexico.

[Low Hanging Fruit]

All I want to know is when Biden is going to get off his ass and head to Texas to hand out paper towel rolls via fadeaway jumpshots. Clearly, he doesn't know how to president, smh.

I was wondering how Bidens foot work down on the block would be. Nice bounce pass entry he could probably shoulder roll with a head fake and get pretty good layup looks with the paper towel rock.

But at least he isn't like "why help them, they don't vote enough for me to win the state!"

[s_bushido]

I have never seen anything less than 48 inches of cover for ductile iron pipe in San Diego and always with either 3/4-inch crushed rock or sand bedding.

Are you sure that doesn't have something to with the...earthquakes?

[Rasulis]

Are you sure that doesn't have something to with the...earthquakes?

Unless we are crossing a known fault strand/splay or areas with high liquefaction potential, we don't design for seismic. Even then, it is likely limited to large-diameter water pipelines or fire hydrant lines and pipelines providing service to critical infrastructure, such as hospital. For small-diameter and typical residential service lines it is cheaper to let the pipe break and fix it later.

For ductile iron we use ANSI/AWWA C150 Thickness Design Standard for Ductile Iron Pipe which does not take earthquake into account.

Electricity and gas provider Just Energy warned that the financial impact of the Texas winter storms could force it out of business.

[Edge-]

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...-b1805616.html

Yo, we have FAKE SNOW conspiracies now! Because apparently a bunch of idiots in Texas don't understand how snow works and think that not being able to instantly melt some snow with a tiny candle is PROOF that it's all fake snow or something.

- - - Updated - - -

Electricity and gas provider Just Energy warned that the financial impact of the Texas winter storms could force it out of business.

Wait...

Canada-based Just Energy shares dropped more that 30% in early trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

The fuck? I thought they used 100% American power down in Texas, why are they workin with some foreigners!?

That's rough though. Sounds like they were doing right by customers and are just a supplier, so they're at the mercy of the unprepared grid. I saw that there was some talk about people being able to put their astronomical power bills on 10 year payment plans but like...fuck that, cancel that shit.

[Rasulis]

If Tesla can ramp up their Powerwall production to meet demand, this could be a breakaway moment for them. There is nothing of comparable quality, price and versatility to Powerwall in North America, and likely the world, to Powerwall right now.

[Edge-]

If Tesla can ramp up their Powerwall production to meet demand, this could be a breakaway moment for them. There is nothing of comparable quality, price and versatility to Powerwall in North America, and likely the world, to Powerwall right now.

Won't help if the power grid is frozen and non-functional. Sure, folks who can afford power walls will be able to keep power on for a while, especially if they're not leaving all the bloody lights on etc. But it's temporary, and if they're without power for multiple days it ain't gonna last. Especially in sub-freezing temperatures where folks may be using some of that juice to keep the inside temperature > 30F.

But that won't help with gas interruptions, the pipes freezing and bursting, or the millions who can't afford power walls/live in apartments where they won't be installed.

Even if they build a battery farm a la what Tesla did in Australia, that wouldn't do shit as it's designed for short-term use and only serves a comparatively small customer base (I think like 20-40K homes?).

[Rasulis]

Won't help if the power grid is frozen and non-functional. Sure, folks who can afford power walls will be able to keep power on for a while, especially if they're not leaving all the bloody lights on etc. But it's temporary, and if they're without power for multiple days it ain't gonna last. Especially in sub-freezing temperatures where folks may be using some of that juice to keep the inside temperature > 30F.

But that won't help with gas interruptions, the pipes freezing and bursting, or the millions who can't afford power walls/live in apartments where they won't be installed.

Even if they build a battery farm a la what Tesla did in Australia, that wouldn't do shit as it's designed for short-term use and only serves a comparatively small customer base (I think like 20-40K homes?).

Well Powerwall in combo with Solar. You can stay hooked up to the grid, but you won't draw any power from the grid. The grid is the back up once the system is up and running. It is not a solution for everybody, but for the ones that could afford the price, it is a great solution. Solar + Powerwall + Energy Efficient home meant that you are not at the mercy of the power companies anymore.

PG&E Tesla Moss Landing battery storage facility should be in operation soon (early this year). It is capable of 730 MWh energy storage and expandable to 1.1 GWh. At the current capacity it is enough to power every single home in SF for 6 hours.

[Crissi]

After how ercot bent us over and ran a train on us. I don't think many will lose any sleep over energy companies failing. Ercot created artificial scarcity since they didn't learn from 2011 when we had a foot of snow in dfw. They didn't spend any time winterizing. In fact they didn't even spend 40 seconds talking about the weather coming for us. as I see it, they failed in their jobs. They need to go into the trash. People shouldn't be on the hook for their fuck ups. ERCOT should eat the price hikes while everyone else pays the normal average. Abbott gots to be careful with how he handles this. You got people like me that would absolutely love to see ercot burn.

Also, i think ATMOS was responsible for gas lines exploding in Dallas, which killed a kid a couple years ago. Fuck ATMOS, your lack of care in maintaining your network finally bites you in the ass.

[Breccia]

I find it strange to penalize the power companies when it was the government run commission that specifically told them to jack up the prices.

I don't. The government may have told the power companies to jack up the price, but the power companies were the ones that did it.

But don't worry, a disaster like this? There's plenty of blame to go around. Hopefully including some actual consequences. I'd like to see the signatures of whoever specifically said this was okay. And I'm sure there are, oh, "one or two" Texas families that would like to see them, also.

The Texas govt is already taking steps to make sure they don't get blamed for this -- which, yeah, could be taken as a sign of mercy or a sign of guilt. Hopefully we find out eventually.

[Zan15]

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...-b1805616.html

Yo, we have FAKE SNOW conspiracies now! Because apparently a bunch of idiots in Texas don't understand how snow works and think that not being able to instantly melt some snow with a tiny candle is PROOF that it's all fake snow or something.

.

sad texas cannot even come up with original idea's. This is as old as the interwebs tubes!

what's next rainbows caused by rain is proof of ....something....

[Thekri]

I don't. The government may have told the power companies to jack up the price, but the power companies were the ones that did it.

But don't worry, a disaster like this? There's plenty of blame to go around. Hopefully including some actual consequences. I'd like to see the signatures of whoever specifically said this was okay. And I'm sure there are, oh, "one or two" Texas families that would like to see them, also.

The Texas govt is already taking steps to make sure they don't get blamed for this -- which, yeah, could be taken as a sign of mercy or a sign of guilt. Hopefully we find out eventually.

Oh sure, totally fine with the power companies getting hit with some fines. My problem is that these things tend to protect the political class, and just hang all the blame on the least powerful people involved. An example I like to use is what we did with the Abu Gharib scandal. The bulk of the public narrative was focused on blaming SPC Lynndie England, which was a gross miscarriage of justice. Now granted, SPC England did horrible things, and I am totally fine with throwing her in jail for much longer then we actually did, but what I have a problem with is that blaming her shifted the responsibility from the larger organizational problems that led to the problems in the first place. They made sure the people that took the fall for it all were junior soldiers, and protected all senior, more politically connected people from accountability. Not a single commissioned officer had actual criminal convictions against them, which is a total travesty.

In a similar vein, that is a lot like what I expect here. Slap some power companies with fines, direct all the media outrage and the actual utility providers, who are middlemen not really responsible for the issue. Meanwhile, allow the power suppliers and government regulators to get off scott free, despite the fact they should shoulder the bulk of the blame, but they are protected by their political power.

- - - Updated - - -

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...-b1805616.html

Yo, we have FAKE SNOW conspiracies now! Because apparently a bunch of idiots in Texas don't understand how snow works and think that not being able to instantly melt some snow with a tiny candle is PROOF that it's all fake snow or something.

Ah yes, these are old as hell. I remember them from pretty much every snowstorm in the south. Always someone waving a butane lighter under a snowball, and being surprised by the soot stains (They interpret it as "Burns" on plasticy snow). Just a reminder that most people don't know how science works.

[Edge-]

Just a reminder that most people don't know how science works.

Yet they're able to figure out how to create videos and share them on the internet. I wish their stupidity was so great it would prevent them from sharing it with the world.

[Breccia]

Oh sure, totally fine with the power companies getting hit with some fines. My problem is that these things tend to protect the political class, and just hang all the blame on the least powerful people involved.

That would be the customers.

But I think you and I agree overall. If this was a tag-team screw the customer, I'm more htan happy with both the electric suppliers who did the gouging, and the politicians who allowed/encouarged it, both getting their karma.

Oh, and if it turns out the electric companies literally ran out of power and could not get it from any other source -- for example, if the power cables across state lines were cut -- and needed money else go out of business (see other recent posts) then they should hae said so publicly rather than just charge people $17,000. They either didn't do so at all (guilty) or did so behind the scenes (I'd like to know why).