Texas PUC Orders That TDUs Rotate Outages So That No Customer Is Subjected To An Outage Of More Than 12 Consecutive Hours; Expects Immediate Compliance

The Texas PUC on the evening of Feb. 17 ordered, "all TDUs in the ERCOT region to rotate customers that are properly subject to curtailment under EEA3 in a manner that no such customer is subjected to an outage of more than 12 hours."

During an emergency open meeting, Chairman DeAnn T. Walker said that the Commission expects compliance, "immediately."

The PUC noted that, "Under the Nodal Operating Guides, load shedding obligations are imposed on distribution service providers. Of this type of entities, the Commission’s jurisdiction for purposes of this order extends to only such entities that meet the definition of transmission and distribution utility, which expressly does not include a municipally owned utility or an electric cooperative. The Commission has extensive authority over a TDU’s operations."

PUC Docket No. 51812