Texas power grid CEO explains what went wrong

Bill Magness, president and CEO of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, explains why so many people lost power in Texas after a massive winter storm.

#NewDay #AlysinCamerota #CNN

86 comments

  1. I wonder if he has heat and water in his house. Nothing gets fixed since 2011 because fixing things affect their bottom line which is of course “profit”.

    1. @Kade Six except, that was the same excuse in 2010 and 1989 when the same thing happened then. This time it was worse because it was a little colder for a little longer, and Texas’s population has blown up over the last 10 years.

    2. @Nice Try Note once in my post did I mention Democrats. Nor was my post red v. blue. They aren’t my Democrats. Sorry about your Republicans’ no longer being ‘the party of personal responsibility’ as they love to claim. Kind of like being the most Patriotic, then storming the Capital.

      I’m neither a Democrat or Republican, but on their behavior the last several years the Republican Party is moving farther and farther away from the ‘values Party’.

  2. That is a lie, El Paso doesn’t share the Texas grid (they share grid with Southern NM) and they did not have the same issues.

    1. This is incorrect. Texas does not send or receive ANY power across its borders in order to avoid federal control of the grid. However, El Paso uses a different energy management company that is not ERCOT. That company effectively winterized all of the equipment ahead of time. ERCOT completely failed in that regard.

    2. @bravedog1974 That is exactly what I stated. El Paso is not part of ERCOT. Thanks for providing more details.

    3. Is this Bill Magness a Republican or conservative? he seems to avoid answering any question by waffling nonsense, like a typical corrupted politician.

    4. @bravedog1974 False. OP is correct. El Paso and other areas in Texas not on the ERCOT grid are regulated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). They do, in some cases, provide electricity across state lines. They didn’t have the problems that the unregulated ERCOT grid had.

  3. Big money doesn’t resign, they’ll fix it, but only because they have to. People died, rest in power Texas. 😢

    1. @Kevin Wotipka so you are telling me that burning coal and flowing gas are what froze? Or oil? oil can’t freeze. you sure are brainwashed by the liberal media, you sheep.

    2. @Aunty Pha No they didn’t freeze. The demand was getting too much for the grid to handle and they had to shut it down before real damage happened.

    3. @Kevin Wotipka the demand was too high becxause the 20% wind and solar all failed at once. If Obama hadn’t ruined fracking there would have been so much more gas that it didn’t matter.

    4. @Aunty Pha No it didn’t fail. My God, everything is politics with you. Did you watch the video? He explained what happened and made no mention of windmills failing. Where did you see claims that they froze anyway?

    1. Is this Bill Magness a Republican or conservative? he seems to avoid answering any question by waffling nonsense, like a typical corrupted politician.

    2. @Richard Graeme Horn or you can NOT elect the people in charge to replace them by people that will do something about it.

    3. @Helenshipsships only the dumb provinces privatized their power companies. Here in Manitoba we generate Hydro power and wind power. Manitoba Hydro is public owned and the people of Manitoba reject any plans to privatize it. That would be a disaster.

      Ask the people of Ontario if they like their privatized power company monthly bills.

      Texas is run by corruption on all levels. I feel for all the citizens there. Wish you all the best in the recovery.

      Oh and vote Ted Cruse out.

  4. The videos I’ve seen of the damage in people’s homes and businesses, these people should be sued to all high heaven. They KNEW this could happen, it did before only not this bad. They were WARNED it was going to happen. They did SQUAT to prevent it. Feel so bad for the people.

    1. They pretend the climate change is not real, that’s the problem. They need to be sued and driven into personal bankruptcy, like they do to their clients

    2. Texas is not equipped or designed for negative temperatures. That kind of weather hasn’t happened in 70 years. They don’t have snow plows ready for the whole state. It is similar to preparing for a flood in Arizona.

  5. It’s not unprecedented, it happened 10 years ago and Texas was advised they should “winter proof” their equipment. Which they didn’t…..

    1. J Williams, stop talking crazy. Next your gonna tell us they should prepare for hurricanes too. And that Bill Magness’s 900K a year salary is toooooo high and that the Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Board of ERCOT (who both make over 600K) should live in Texas instead of Michigan and California. And that said Vice Chairman shouldn’t have two other full time University jobs at University’s that aren’t where??? Thats right, they ain’t in Texas. But lets not wine about it J. Lets give them all a raise so they do better next time. Thats the spirit. Are you with me J. Of course you are. Put on that happy face.

    2. It also happened in the mid 80’s- brutal ice storm. On top of this terrible privately owned/managed grid that refuses to winterize most the homes & apartments in Texas are not properly insulated. Without power they become death traps both in the winter & summer.

    3. @Rob Maynard
      Gee how mature ! Umm yeah don’t think that Trump was president in 2011when the last storm was in Texas .

      It was 2017 he took office, just in case you weren’t aware.
      So someone with A brain cell, just one now, would be able to decipher that anything having to do with the 2011 storm in Texas regarding recommendations , Trump taking office in 2017, so that’s 6 years to do something with recommendations that were were made before Trump ever took office. and this storm in Feb 2021,
      Trump is out of office. So where’s your relevance, as if any of that really matters , because it’s not his dam responsibility period!!!!!
      Doesn’t HAVE A DAM
      thing to do with Trump. !
      But hey maybe interview for a seat with the View.
      They seem to be just as obsessed as your are . Just just can’t help yourself even if it makes you look like a …..
      Well no need to follow your immaturity.

    1. Of course, they have no intention of actually being responsible and winterizing their equipment and facilities.

    2. Is this Bill Magness a Republican or conservative? he seems to avoid answering any question by waffling nonsense, like a typical corrupted politician.

    3. How much does it cost to winterized the electrical grid? Also what does the term winterized means? Is it like providing plow truck at the grid station? If listening to the CEO seems more like supply demand issue and they being unready to meet the demand

    1. Listen up, This guy was just doing his job with what he had to work with. It is the investors and regulators that should have winterize the system , It was the GOP blame game that caused the problem. Not him. He doesnt order the money spent on upgrading the system. Kind of like a truck driver, one has a shiney new bells and whistles tractor, compared to another who drives for a money pinching company that supplies old broke down trucks for the drivers to run. Do i make my point or doesnt any one here work for somebody else?

    2. @J Bird So has he been involved in actively trying to get the funds he needs to make the changes that need to be implemented. I see it as a captain of a ship that hits an iceburg and he has a cruise ship come pick him up (the captain) as the crew goes down with the ship. Do I make my point?

    3. @Lisa Ross Ok, but the titanic was made from inferior steel with sulfur in it, brittle. Also the design had compartments that werent sealed at the top. Is all that the captains fault?, How ever, note, he was going to fast because the owners told him to make headlines. Managers are told what to do by their bosses, Its possible, but seldom do company owners/bosses listen to recommendations from managers and underlings. Another example is the challenger shuttle disaster. Engineers and managers told the owners bad idea for a launch because of the cold weather. The rest is history. thanks for the post.

    1. Jackie Andrea dude after 20 years and 3 successful companies just be cool truth is truth …. all the best 😉

    2. @Jerry McClure well thats because Cruz probably doesnt believe in climate change. He needs to be out. Him and his like minded buddies could care less about the planet. Think scientists are idiots.People need to stand up before these intitled white collar criminals in the swamp of DC (GOP) ruin the world because of their selfish behavior. If it doesnt make them money they dont care.They do not work for the people. Vote Cruz TF out!

    3. @johnthetruthseeker you’re an engineer…great. Are you a reporter? No…great. She asked the right questions.

    4. The answer he is trying to give is that it is not his job to make sure the generator plants are winterized, He said it himself he is the traffic cop not the person in this situation. He has no say on if the generator companies decide to spend more money to upgrade their generators to be winterized. Unfortunately this was all caused by companies trying to save money and not spend for extra equipment just because they one day might need it in a event such as this.

  6. Found your problem: There’s a CEO in charge of your power grid. Bet he can’t even reset the fuses in his own home.

    1. @Tom Krzysiak What is wrong with people like you??? What gives you any indication that Biden is slow??? Or do you just support the ex-president who really was slow?!?!?

    2. Is this Bill Magness a Republican or conservative? he seems to avoid answering any question by waffling nonsense, like a typical corrupted politician.

    3. @Tom Krzysiak Donald Trump thought the Spanish flu ended WW2 please don’t mention the word slow without bringing up Trump idk why u think Biden is slow

  7. Never send a private company to do the government’s job. Companies exist to make money, governments exist to serve.

    1. @El Jefe Wow, tell you what – look up the *official* meaning of the word ‘cartel’ then come back.
      Hint – it has nothing to do with murderous drug dealing.

    2. @Damon Reynolds oh I thought the conversation was about how the government was there to serve. In my opinion keeping its citizens safe is the least they could do to serve right?

    3. @daro desire it is a good comment. Government is supposed to serve and ensure the well being of the constituents. Where people are calling it dumb is that most politicians are only out to line their own pockets. That’s certainly what they did when they deregulated the power in Texas. Still, in theory, the original comment was truthfully what should’ve happened.

  8. Texas was warned about this 10 years ago, but….. And her questions was on point, she didn’t let him weasel out of anything.

    1. Is this Bill Magness a Republican or conservative? he seems to avoid answering any question by waffling nonsense, like a typical corrupted politician.

    2. The GOP cant handle natural or manmade disasters. Hurricane Katrina was natural but the levees were left in the lurch. The Gulf oil spill was caused by deregulation. Puerto Rico was natural but man failed again in their response. Then came Corona…

  9. The host fails to nail Magness down on why the utilities weren’t ‘winterized’ after the 2011 review. He ignored her question and she didn’t insist he answer it.

    1. She’s not sloppy, she asks questions and he has the freedom to answer… or not, you just have to interpret his non answer as it should be. She made him show his true face.

    2. Texas wasn’t winterized because they can’t invest in a state wide supply of plow trucks for something that is so rare. The temperatures haven’t been that low is 70 years.

    3. ERCOT does what the state legislators tell it to do. Her “gotcha” questions were typical CNN style. They no longer have 45 to pick on all day every day so let’s find whoever whenever. BTW I hated 45.

    4. @Just Me I don’t think you understand what “winterized” means in this case. It isn’t plowing roads. It’s things like insulating gas pipelines so that natural gas doesn’t freeze.

    5. @Mister Hat . Gas can only be produced with trucks being able to drive to well locations, 24/7. If they can’t drive they can’t produce.

  10. So the CEOs answer is we’ll see what our legislators make us do now after our failure. Leadership starts at the top, I don’t see any. All I see is people ready to blame others and run away from the problem, Ted included.

  11. You can tell he’s trying to avoid answering her questions because he knows how terrible this looks on him. This is why we need people who are honest and prioritize quality and safety over profit.

    1. Yeah look at those eyes . Those look like a bratty kid that knows he messed up and was caught with their hand in the cookie jar and I trying to make an excuse for why they did it

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