TYLER, TX (EAST TEXAS NEWS) – Given how cold it is, you probably wouldn’t even want to think about being without electricity.
Yet, for some Texans, it nearly happened due to a dispute between two of the state’s energy giants.
Tonight there is good news. An agreement has been reached in the clash involving two East Texas power plants that threatened to cut power to 400,000 Texas homes.
A document filed Thursday afternoon around 3:10 p.m. reflects an agreement that ends a dispute that could have left 400,000 Texas homes and businesses without electricity in freezing conditions.
The Stryker Creek power plant in Cherokee County was one of five Texas facilities swept up in a feud between Dallas-based pipeline operator Energy Transfer and Luminant, a Vistra subsidiary that runs the Stryker Creek facility and the nearby Trinidad generating plant outside Athens.
Their fight stemmed from Energy Transfer’s threat to cut fuel to the five Vistra plants they serve if Vistra did not pay the $21 million owed following the winter storm.
Energy Transfer said the debt arose from Luminant overordering natural gas during the winter storm and not using it all.
It was that threat to cut natural gas service that led Luminant to file a 149-page complaint with the Texas Railroad Commission, which regulates the state’s oil and gas industry, on Wednesday, saying the threatened plants provide power to roughly 400,000 Texas homes and labeling the move “illegal and extremely irresponsible.”
On Thursday, Wayne Christian, chair of the Texas Railroad Commission, tweeted his concern, stating that the two energy giants “must come together to resolve this issue so that no Texan loses gas or electric service during the cold weather. Do the right thing for Texans.”
Their plea and Vistra’s request that this fight be made public appear to have paid off. The two companies have reached an agreement to maintain natural gas flow to plants like Lake Stryker and Trinidad through March 31.
If gas service had been cut, three of the plants would have access to other pipelines, but they would have struggled to operate at full capacity. Two plants, including Trinidad, are served only by Energy Transfer’s pipelines.
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