DALLAS — Since the deadly 2021 winter blackouts that left millions of Texans in a deep freeze for days, lawmakers have had two sessions to remedy the state's flawed power grid.
So what's changed?
In this episode of Y'all-itics, the Jasons are joined by two energy experts -- Stoic Energy founder Doug Lewin and University of Houston energy fellow Ed Hirs -- to get to the bottom of the legislation surrounding our state's electricity.
In short, they both agree that the recently passed "fixes" by our elected officials haven't really made the grid more reliable.
So what have the changes enacted by state politicians actually done, then? Lewin and Hirs walk us through that during the course of this episode.
But, really, perhaps a better question is this: What hasn't our legislation done to improve the grid situation?
Lewin, for his part, says one thing elected leaders could have done to help consumers was support a program called “demand response.”
"These are voluntary programs that customers can sign up for and get paid to actually reduce their use at the times of peak," Lewin said. "We basically have no programs in the state for residential consumers. Large consumers can get paid to reduce, right, industrial consumers. But residential consumers really don’t have access to that. And that’s a tool ERCOT could use when things are really getting critical in the summer."
Speaking of: Could things get critical this summer? Listen in to this week's episode find out from the experts on the matter themselves.