Court Rejects Billion-Dollar Legal Challenge to PUC Rates During Winter Storm Uri

Legal efforts by some of the largest energy companies in Texas to force the Texas Public Utility Commission to reprice the record-high electricity rates it charged during Winter Storm Uri three years ago were flatly rejected Friday by a unanimous Texas Supreme Court.

The state’s highest court ruled that the PUC did not exceed its legal authority in February 2021 when it ignored market competition to set electric rates at $9,000 per megawatt-hour because the Texas grid faced an emergency crisis and possible collapse “that would have plunged the state into darkness for weeks, maybe months.”