New CEO of Texas power grid manager aims to rebuild trust as another winter approaches
"So we continue to be tested, we continue to pass those tests," said Pablo Vegas, the new head of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas. He said reliability is key to restoring public trust in the state's power grid.
7 facts from the Great Texas Freeze
The costliest U.S. winter storm event on record started to unfold a year ago leading to Valentine’s Day. The historic cold snap and winter storm from Feb. 10-19 brought a gridlock of multiday societal impacts from road closures, power outages, loss of heat and busted pipes Here are seven facts from the Great Texas Freeze.
AUSTIN, Texas - Pablo Vegas, the new head of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which manages the state's power grid, made his first public appearance Thursday.
"It took a while but the Board is confident we got the right person, and we are thrilled to have him," said Peter Lake, chairman of the Public Utility Commission of Texas, which oversees ERCOT.
Vegas has more than a decade of experience in the power generation business and also has a background in computer technology.
"I'm thrilled to be taking this new role, leading ERCOT," Vegas said. "Absolutely thrilled."
Vegas, who replaces ERCOT's interim CEO Brad Jones, has a yearly base pay of just under $1 million. His compensation package over six years is estimated to be close to $7 million. That amount could grow if certain goals are met.
Thursday, Vegas said he spent his first few weeks on the job getting to know his team, but there is not much time for a learning curve. Vegas has to make sure the reforms that got the grid through a record-breaking summer will continue to keep the lights on this winter.
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The sun sets behind power transmission lines in Texas, on July 11, 2022.
(Nick Wagner/Xinhua / Getty Images)
What may be even tougher is convincing the public the grid will hold.
"The key is going to be continued reliable execution," said Vegas.
That job, according to Vegas, will be long-running.
"So we continue to be tested, we continue to pass those tests," he said. "That’s how we rebuild the trust and faith in the reliability of the electric grid."
Changing public perception comes as customers are seeing high power bills. Local utilities, such as Austin Energy, blame recent natural gas price increases. Lake acknowledges redesigning the grid after the winter storm in 2021 came with a cost.
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"So certainly can’t speak to the local decisions made at the Austin city level, but in context of the cost of increased reliability operations at ERCOT, to date, the total reliable operations – between expanded reserves, for a greater margin of safety, getting more generators on sooner rather than later – all of those operational changes have cost, on average, a $1.25 per household per month," Lake said.
That payment brought this promise.
"Our grid will be ready for, is ready for, whatever Mother Nature throws at us," Lake said.
The next step for Vegas will be to determine how ERCOT will manage a new marketplace for power generators.
"We will see what kind of investments we need to make in the organization to be able to make those changes as quickly, as reliably as we can, because one of our goals is to not only execute and implement this new market model but to do it as rapidly as fast as we can, so we can see the benefits of that coming out as quickly as possible," Vegas said.
The new market will not only determine how much generators will be paid for the electricity they sell. It will determine if new power plants will be built. All that will ultimately be played out, and paid out, on utility bills.