Ask Harris County to leave the state power grid. Is this possible?

HOUSTON – Commissioner Adrian Garcia said Harris County should explore what authority it has to leave the Texas Energy Reliability Council and will propose to the commissioner’s court Friday.

Garcia said he will ask for “an opinion from the county attorney on what powers the court or other elected official in the county has under the Texas Constitution and Texas statutes to remove the county from the ERCOT service area.” “, among other things.

The ERCOT map, which includes most of Texas except El Paso, parts of the Panhandle, and more than a dozen counties in the eastern end of the state, has looked the same for many decades.

In the Houston area, Harris, Fort Bend, Galveston, Brazoria and Montgomery counties are within the ERCOT map, while Jefferson and Liberty counties belong to another network overseen by the Federal Energy Reliability Council.

It has been like this for at least half a century, said Ed Emmett, who formally served as Harris County judge for more than a decade.

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“Can you imagine if 254 counties in the state of Texas started thinking about whether they wanted to be in ERCOT or some other system?” Emmett said. “It’s not really his job.”

Emett’s home in the Houston area on the ERCOT network lost energy during last week’s winter storm. His cabin in Liberty County, on the MISO network, did not lose power.

“I think there are legitimate questions to ask why some service areas kept electricity and others didn’t,” Emmett said. “It’s hard for me to see a role for county commissioners here.”

State lawmakers, however, have a role, he said.

“The last time I checked it, all lawmakers represent the same residents of Harris County,” Emmett said. “It will be a political discussion on whether it is better regulated by the Public Utility Commission (ERCOT abroad) or by FERC.

Hypothetically, if Harris County could abandon ERCOT, Emmett said it would have to rebuild power lines and other infrastructure.

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Houston Energy University member Ed Hirs said the cost of this new infrastructure would be “hundreds of millions of dollars.”

Garcia is scheduled to present his proposal Friday, which also includes a “formal endorsement” of a federal investigation into what he calls “failures and shortcomings” of the state of Texas during the winter storm.

He was not available for an interview on Tuesday.