Yet another issue likely to come up at today's hearing is that ERCOT is unable to compel companies to weatherize their plants properly, despite the agency's responsibilities in managing the grid reliably. The Public Utility Commission does
collect weatherizaton plans from power generators, but all are marked "confidential. Even ERCOT doesn't "have visibility into weatheriziation plans and procedures for the plants," said Doggett, the ERCOT chief, at the board meeting yesterday. He added that ERCOT might look at getting an "attestation" from power plant managers that their facility is ready.
The Public Utility Commission appears to do little with the weatherization plans. A spot-check of the commission's
responses to several weatherization filings reveals an often pro-forma checklist saying that the filings have the required items — such as a summary of weatherization procedures, a description of alternative fuel supplies and a hurricane plan.
In 2008, for example, in a half-page note to Luminant, a PUC official
wrote, "PUC staff has reviewed your filed summary and has found that it sufficiently addresses items 1) through 5) listed above." Three years later, four of Luminant's large coal-plant units (some newer than 2008)
failed during the freeze.
