Texas lawmakers call for resignations from PUC, following hearings on power outages

AUSTIN — Lawmakers began calling for the resignation of the chairwoman of the Public Utilities Commission Thursday night after hearings into the failures that left millions of Texans without power in freezing cold temperatures last week.

Rep. Jared Patterson, R-Frisco, called late Thursday on Twitter for the resignation of Public Utilities Commission chairwoman, DeAnne Walker.

“PUC Chair (at least) must resign,” he said. “I have zero confidence after today’s hearings; and by the line of questioning of my colleagues, I believe most if not all agree with me.”

Walker, who is appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott and makes $201,000 a year, was grilled for hours by House and Senate lawmakers about the failures in the state’s energy system that led to power outages that left millions of Texans shivering in the cold last week.

Lawmakers were irked that Walker said her commission had no authority to regulate the energy system after the Legislature had given it power to do so following a previous winter storm in 2011 that had also led to rolling blackouts.

They had particularly given PUC a mandate to regulate the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, or ERCOT, the nonprofit that operates the state’s power grid, to ensure such power failures didn’t happen again.

But Walker told legislative panels that PUC didn’t have regulatory power.

Rep. Rafael Anchía, D-Dallas, took Walker to task in a joint hearing of the House State Affairs and Energy Resources Committee. He walked her through state laws that gave PUC regulatory authority over the state’s energy market structure, previously passed laws that clarified that authority, and the commission’s own mission statement.

He also pointed Walker to ERCOT’s bylaws, which say the PUC has responsibility and oversight of its activities. ERCOT can’t approve a budget, hire a CEO, or appoint certain board members without the PUC’s consent, Anchía said.

Walker agreed with Anchía that each of the documents he pointed to gave the PUC regulatory authority and said she had made errors in handling last week’s power outages.

“Do you think the public deserves an apology from the PUC?” Anchía asked.

When Walker did not immediately respond, Anchía interjected, “The fact your hesitating is astonishing.”

Rep. Jeff Leach, R-Plano, said his beliefs about oversight failures had been reinforced by the hearings.

“The PUC Commissioners & ERCOT CEO should swiftly resign,” he wrote on Twitter. “A necessary step so we and our constituents can be confident the right leadership is in place to ensure this never happens again in Texas.”

The PUC has two other commissioners in addition to Walker, Arthur C. D’Andrea and Shelly Botkin. They are appointed by Abbott and each make $201,000 a year.

ERCOT CEO Bill Magness, who was also questioned by lawmakers for hours, makes $803,000 a year.

ERCOT has been at the center of criticism from the public and state officials since last week’s outages. But the PUC, which oversees it, largely had escaped criticism until Thursday’s hearings.

That was no longer the case by early Friday morning. Shortly after midnight, near the end of the hearing, Rep. Abel Herrero, D-Corpus Christi, asked Walker: “I’m curious to find out if the governor has asked for your resignation.”

“He has not,” she responded.

The joint hearing will continue Friday at 9 a.m.