Report Clears Utility Of Any Wrongdoing in February Freeze
The Public Utility Commission of Texas has cleared El Paso Electric of any wrongdoing during the Borderland’s February freeze, which damaged thousands of homes and businesses in West Texas and Southern New Mexico.
The 50-page report found no violations resulting from the utility’s actions, instead blaming the extremely cold weather for malfunctioning equipment.
The report states: “EPE winterizes its generating plants and verifies its substation equipment can withstand frigid temperatures. EPE performed an additional review of its weatherization plans within 48 hours of the Feb. 2-4 cold front and placed employees on call on an as-needed basis.”
Rolling blackouts affected about 110,000 customers in West Texas and Southern New Mexico. Blackouts took place in four separate intervals over three days, totaling 18 1/2 hours.
One of the concerns was whether the interruption in electrical service led to problems at El Paso Water Utilities. According to the PUC report, “EPE did interrupt some of the EPWU load, but did so after coordinating and receiving agreement from EPWU prior to the interruption of services.”
The report also states that EPE’s actions during and after the weather event could have an impact on future rates.
El Paso Electric is expected to complete its own primary-action report on this incidents by June. The PUC report states that “several federal and state regulatory agencies are involved in ongoing inquiries regarding the situation and EPE has several potential corrective action plans either under way or under study.”
