The Cold, Hard Facts of Deregulation

The GOP has received its propaganda brief and they are going whole-hog with it. Sadly, the Trump crowd will lap it up, because as we know, Democrats (especially AOC) are Satan and responsible for everything, from COVID-19 to rained-out ballgames. Every time a Texan hits their ankle on the bedframe, you can be sure there's a Democrat to blame.

And yes, sometimes Democrats are to blame. But not this time. What is happening in Texas is 100% a result of the 2002 deregulation of electric and gas utilities. In order to facilitate this, Texas separated from the Western grid and became an independent, self-sustaining grid unto itself. Hooray, the Lone Star State secedes from the Big Bad Government!

Of course, there are some problems with this. First, not being connected to the main grid means that when power is scarce, there is no "give" from other regions which are not in dire need of massive amounts of energy at a given time. And why would Texas do something so idiotic? Oh, you know why.

Deregulation in Texas meant that energy suppliers became separate from energy transmitters. Huh? Well, one company (here, it's Centerpoint) owns the electrical infrastructure: power lines, transformers, etc. However, there are dozens upon dozens of suppliers that transmit power to homes over those lines. Customers have free choice! The market saves the day again!

Except, no. There is a reason that utilities are regulated, for safety, upkeep, winterization, and above all a constant supply. If you don't have heat in the winter, you die. (20 Texas deaths and counting.) But in Texas, electricity is a fluctuating commodity, like pork bellies or Dogecoin. The price of killowatt-hours goes up and down, and customers can subscribe to different companies with different plans. The main utility, Reliant Energy (which, like Centerpoint, was spun off from the old monopoly utility, Houston Lighting & Power) offers customers a stable, fixed rate for power. Other companies "play the market," and the cost of power goes up and down according to demand.

You see where this is going. In order for there to be market demand at all, supply has to be narrowed to create an artificial scarcity. Although there is nothing artificial about the high demand for power during this massive, unprecedented snowstorm that has essentially turned Texas into Redneck Massachusetts, there would be enough power if (a) Texas were on the main grid; (b) power plants had to winterize (or summer-ize) by law; (c) there were price controls on electricity and natural gas so that there would be no incentive for power plants to narrow the supply, the way OPEC sometimes does with crude oil. 

In short, Texas power would be a utility, which means it would be exempt from market forces because if it is not there, people fucking die. 

The GOP is never going to admit this. People in Texas are pissed off, and demanding reform. In order to head that off at the ideological pass, clowns like Greg Abbott, Dan Crenshaw, and Ted Cruz are circulating pictures of frozen wind turbines, claiming, "see! Trump was right! This is what happens when you rely on green energy! Big Oil uber alles!"

As you may have guessed, though, Texas is not exactly a progressive investor in renewable energy. Wind power contributes less than 10% of all the power in the Texas grid. This crisis is due to electrical generators, natural gas plants, and nuclear reactors that have frozen and ground to a halt. Because, again, without regulation, there was nobody forcing them to plan for this unexpected weather event. Which is itself a direct result of global climate change, but let's not even go there.

So once again, we have an objective, cause-and-effect relationship, with a well documented paper trail. We have power plants with output (or lack thereof) which is of course monitored and available for statistical / comparative inspection. And we have half the nation (and more importantly, about 75% of Texans) more than willing to deny reality in favor of a political fairy tale.

Because Joe Biden hates the oil industry. And he is letting us freeze to death. To punish us for voting for Trump. Because he hates our freedom. Get me the fuck out of here.