ERCOT CEO Bill Magness will be replaced after the Texas power outages

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The board overseeing Texas Electric Reliability Council, the independent nonprofit that operates and manages the power grid that covers much of Texas, fired ERCOT CEO Bill Magness on Wednesday night.

The board’s move to vote in favor of a “60-day notice of termination” came after meeting in a private executive session for more than three hours. The board of directors barely discussed his decision once he returned to the public session.

The decision is the latest in several recently announced ERCOT board outings, which also included Magness. Seven board members resigned following public criticism that many board members did not reside in Texas.

The absence of Magness will leave the ERCOT board of 16 people with a combination of vacancies and temporary members. Both ERCOT and the Texas Public Utilities Commission, the regulatory body overseeing it, have been rejected in recent weeks for failing to prepare for and responding to the winter storm that left millions in the dark for days and goes take the lives of dozens of people. .

On Monday, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick had called for the resignation of Magness and the PUC president. DeAnn Walker, the former president of the PUC, resigned that same day. It had been subjected to strong criticism by lawmakers after it had largely pointed to the fault of Texas power courts in ERCOT. On Wednesday, Gov. Greg Abbott appointed Walker as his replacement.

Magness, who endured more than five hours of questioning by state senators on Thursday, was criticized for the organization’s preparations for a winter storm. ERCOT underestimated the maximum amount of energy that households, businesses and industry would require during a severe winter storm in their fall projections, and overestimated the amount of power generation that would be available on the grid during this storm.

When the first hours of February 15 began to fall large amounts of energy offline, far beyond what was expected, ERCOT network operators were forced to order utility companies to start cuts controlled to prevent the entire system from collapsing. Lawmakers complained that the network manager did not do enough to alert state leaders or citizens of the impending disaster.

In his testimony last week, Magness defended ERCC’s handling of disruptions, telling lawmakers that if ERCC operators had not acted as they did, “the suffering we saw last week it would be composed ”and the jeans would probably be powerless for weeks. Magness also defended ERCOT as an entity that carries out what is run by state legislators and the PUC.

“The committee approves the policy, we implement it,” Magness said.

Magness told lawmakers he earns $ 803,000 a year, which he said comes from jeans that paid their electric bills.

Magness did not talk about the board’s decision, only abstained from voting because he was involved with himself. Magness also said he did not attend any relevant discussions in the private executive session.

Walker, who testified after Magness during hearings with lawmakers, said he disagreed with his characterization of the amount of oversight the PUC had of ERCOT and said the legislation “has not received authority. legal to demand winter weathering “in the commission the concern after the power crisis was rushed by power plants that fell offline. Many power generators are not built to withstand extreme cold temperatures in Texas.

Magness worked at ERCOT for more than a decade and became its CEO and chairman in 2016 after working as a general manager. He previously held executive management positions in the public and private sectors. Lawyer, he previously worked as a senior attorney on state and federal regulation.