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Luminant To Pay $300,000 Under Settlement With Texas PUC Staff
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Luminant Energy
Company LLC would pay $300,000 under a settlement with Staff of the Public Utility Commission of Texas to resolve alleged violations of 16 Texas Administrative Code (TAC) §§ 25.503(f)(2)
and (8), and Electric Reliability Council of Texas, Inc. (ERCOT) Nodal Protocols §§ 6.4.6(1) and
6.5.7.9(1), relating a QSE's obligation to comply with dispatch instructions and to provide accurate information to ERCOT
The settlement provides that the parties agree that the violations detailed in the settlement, "were unintentional and
resulted from Luminant’s attempts to comply with ERCOT’s directive to preserve fuel to
best serve peak load during a period of high demand."
Luminant provided the following statement concerning the matter:
"As stated in the filing, Luminant’s actions reflected an intent to follow ERCOT’s directive to preserve fuel to serve peak load during an extreme weather event more than seven years ago. Luminant has agreed to a settlement payment to resolve this matter and allow the company to remain focused on current critical ERCOT market issues."
--- Statement from Luminant
The settlement relates to actions undertaken by Luminant during the week of January 15, 2018, in which, per the settlement, the ERCOT power region experienced a period of
extreme winter weather and high electricity demand.
The settlement states that in anticipation of and throughout the duration of such winter weather event, ERCOT issued
a series of market-wide communications directing market participants to preserve limited
fuel supplies to best serve peak load.
The settlement states, "At approximately 12:00 on January 16, 2018, in an attempt to comply with ERCOT’s
directive to preserve fuel to best serve peak load, Luminant inaccurately reduced the HSL
telemetry for [] five generation resources by a combined 1,213 MW below the units’
actual generation capabilities."
The settlement states, "Luminant’s decision to telemeter inaccurately reduced HSL values for the five generation
resources reflected an attempt to comply with ERCOT’s directive to 'preserve fuel to best
serve peak load.' Specifically, Luminant derated the resources’ telemetered HSL values
to prevent the resources from being dispatched at quantities that would require significant
consumption of limited fuel resources during non-peak hours."
The settlement states, "Luminant continued telemetering the inaccurate HSL values for the generation resources
until approximately 17:05 that evening."
The settlement states, "Luminant admits that, between 12:00 and 17:05 on January 16, 2018, there were no outages
or other conditions present that rendered the five generation resources physically incapable
of operating at the HSLs in effect prior to the 12:00 reductions."
The settlement agreement states, "While attempting to comply with ERCOT’s directive, Luminant violated 16 TAC
§ 25.503(f)(2) on January 16, 2018 by submitting HSL telemetry that did not comply with
telemetry requirements as set forth under the ERCOT Nodal Protocols."
The settlement agreement states, "While attempting to comply with ERCOT’s directive, Luminant violated 16 TAC
§ 25.503(f)(8) on January 16, 2018 by providing ERCOT with inaccurate, false, or
misleading information about the maximum sustained energy production capabilities of
five generation resources."
The settlement agreement states that, on January 16, 2018, Luminant, in 10 instances, failed to timely comply with certain base point
dispatch instructions from ERCOT, as listed in the settlement agreement
The settlement agreement states, "Luminant violated 16 TAC § 25.503(f)(2) on January 16, 2018 by failing to comply with
the requirements for compliance with dispatch instructions established under the ERCOT
Nodal Protocols."
The settlement agreement states, "Luminant admits that the NDRR [normal down ramp rate] telemetry submitted for FRNYPP_CC1, FRNYPP_CC2,
GRSES_UNIT2, and SCSES_UNIT2 between 12:00 and 12:15 on January 16, 2018 did
not accurately reflect the real-time capabilities of the resources."
The settlement agreement states, "Luminant acknowledges that, in the context of the facts underlying the violations resolved
by this settlement agreement, the appropriate way to try to preserve a resource’s limited
fuel supplies to best serve peak load is to adjust the resource’s energy offer curve to reflect
the opportunity cost of being dispatched during non-peak hours."
The settlement states that Luminant has taken various corrective actions to address the cause of the violations
described in the agreement and to ensure compliance with applicable rules and protocols moving forward
Such measures include, but are not limited to, updates to Luminant’s Real Time Operations Procedure,
annual wholesale compliance trainings, and regular guidance issuances to Luminant’s team providing that resource operational parameters
communicated to ERCOT should always reflect the resource’s physical operational
capabilities and should not be changed to reflect economic conditions.
Docket 58674
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September 17, 2025
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Copyright 2025 EnergyChoiceMatters.com
Reporting by Paul Ring • ring@energychoicematters.com
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