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LCG Publishes 2024 Annual Outlook for Texas Electricity Market (ERCOT)

LCG, October 10, 2023 – LCG Consulting (LCG) has released its annual outlook of the ERCOT wholesale electricity market for 2024, based on the most likely weather, market, transmission, and generator conditions.

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LCG Publishes 2024 Annual Outlook for Texas Electricity Market (ERCOT)

LCG, October 10, 2023 – LCG Consulting (LCG) has released its annual outlook of the ERCOT wholesale electricity market for 2024, based on the most likely weather, market, transmission, and generator conditions.

Read more

Industry News

Computer Problems a Drag on Texas Dereg Pilot

LCG, Aug. 20, 2001--Computer problems that delayed the beginning of the Texas electricity customer choice pilot program for two months are still proving to be a drag on the test, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas said on Friday.

The program, under which 5 percent of the retail electric customers of Texas utilities are eligible to sign up, has attracted only 93,000 customers, and of those not more than 200 have actually been able to switch to new electric service providers.

The problem lies in the communications between state computers, the computer of the utilities and those of other market participants. ERCOT, one of 10 regional councils of the North American Electric Reliability Council and the independent system operator for Texas, is managing the test and said it will troubleshoot the communications problem.

It had better hurry. Full retail electric deregulation in Texas is supposed to begin on January 1. But the alternative power providers are getting antsy. Shell Energy, the retail electricity unit of the big oil company, said in a filing with the Public Utility Commission of Texas "Some of our customers still cannot even be identified, much less billed on a timely and accurate basis, or have their power scheduled correctly."

The Texas program is being closely watched because of problems that have beset California with its electric restructuring law, but officials in the Lone Star State are quick to point out that California's problems were caused by an insufficiency of power supply.

In California, the population grew by about 50 percent between 1980 and 2000, while its electric generation grew not at all. Through the 1990s and until early this year, the licensing authorities for new power plants were more concerned with preventing their being built for environmental reasons than they were for the need for power.

In Texas, 14 new power plants with a combined capacity of 5,134 megawatts have been commissioned over the past few years and another 13, with a total output of 4,024 megawatts will be completed by the end of this year.

Sam Jones, chief operating officer for ERCOT, said the agency is now working its way through its backlog at the rate of 330 requests to switch per day and will be able to boost that to 1,300 a day this week. The goal is to be switching customers at the rate of 21,000 a day by January 1, he said.

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