The Texas Senate’s Business and Commerce Committee held a hearing Thursday to discuss Senate Bill 6, new legislation aimed at improving the reliability of the Texas electric grid following the 2021 Winter Storm Uri disaster.
According to its author, Sen. Phil King, Senate Bill 6 focuses on four main objectives: transmission costs, grid reliability, bringing credibility to load forecasting, and protecting residential customers from outages.
The legislation is part of the Legislature’s ongoing efforts to improve grid reliability after the 2021 blackouts, which left many Texans without electricity and/or water for days as cold weather caused energy sources to fail, leaving the state unable to meet electricity demand.
King emphasized that Texas cannot afford another Uri. He framed the legislation within the context of Texas' strong economic growth, noting that this growth also increases electricity demand.
“We are blessed to be a state that has experienced continual growth for decades,” King said. “This is also true for our electric usage and demand.”
King noted that in the last couple of years, the recent increases in demand for electricity, with the expansion of data centers, Bitcoin mining, and AI computing, is adding further stress to the grid.
Most testimony on the bill came from industry participants who highlighted potential concerns about some of the proposed changes.
“During the interim hearings there were discussions about much broader approaches to this and we really appreciate the time that has been taken to find tailored solutions,” said Katie Coleman, who represents manufacturers in Texas.
Bill Peacock, policy director of the Energy Alliance, told the committee that while tailored solutions are important, the bill needs to address the real causes of grid reliability problems.
“I’m testifying against SB 6 today, not because all of its elements are bad but because it does not deal with renewable energy, which have been driving the growth of unreliability on the grid for 15 years,” Peacock testified.
“Wind and solar have also driven reliable generation like natural gas and coal out of the market,” Peacock added. “The solution is to eliminate Texas subsidies for renewables and make wind and solar generators pay for the reliability costs they impose on the market because of federal subsidies.”
The committee is working on a new draft of Senate Bill 6 and plans to send it to the full Senate within a couple of weeks.
