Occidental Power Services to Pay $60,000 to Settle Ancillary Shortfall

Occidental Power Services, Inc. (QSE) would pay $60,000 under a settlement with PUCT Staff to resolve allegations that Occidental Power Services was in violation of PURA 39.151(j) and P.U.C. SUBST. R. 25.503(f)(2), concerning failure to adhere to Electric Reliability Council of Texas, Inc. (ERCOT) Protocol § 6.3.2(2), concerning ancillary service provider obligations during the February 26, 2008 emergency event.

During the event, Occidental Power Services successfully dispatched its Load Resources per ERCOT's Verbal Dispatch Instruction, but Occidental Power Services' control system incorrectly captured the offset needed to account for Occidental Power Services' Load Resource RRS deployment.

Upon identifying the error, Occidental Power Services operators entered a manual correction to override the control system offset that was incorrectly captured. This manual correction overcompensated for the original offset error and increased generation, resulting in the provision of decreased reserve amounts.

As a result of the offset error, Occidental Power Services failed to meet its ancillary services obligations -- either Responsive Reserve, Up Regulation, or Non-Spin -- by a minimum of 11 megawatts (MW) to as many as 33 MW during six 15-minute intervals over three clock hours, according to a proposed finding of facts.