Gov. Greg Abbott’s veto of an energy efficiency bill during Texas' heat wave will...
A CenterPoint worker works on a transmitter on Thursday, April 13, 2023 in Houston. Texas' energy grid shattered a record for peak demand in June as temperatures climb across the state., millions of air conditioning units kick in, whirring and wheezing, straining
to spare us the indignities of sweaty discomfort and protect us from the far more serious prospect of heat stroke.the Electric Reliability Council of TexasWe hope you heeded that plea, out of a sense of shared sacrifice to conserve power and keep the grid from failing. But we’re confounded and frustrated by the mixed messaging since other state officials refuse to lift a finger to encourage conservation.
Recently, as this heat wave set in, Gov. Greg Abbott vetoed one of the few energy conservation bills that actually passed the Legislature. While other bills that could have helped grow our energy supply to meet Texas’ surging power demand failed, Senate Bill 2453 by state Sen. Jose Menendez, D-San Antonio, and Rep. Ana Hernandez, D-Houston, would have allowed the State Energy Conservation Office to adopt new statewide codes to make new buildings more energy efficient.
The bill passed both chambers on a bipartisan vote and garnered broad support from the Texas Chemical Council to the Sierra Club. It would have brought Texas building codes in line with International Energy Conservation codes that one study estimated wouldYet even this common-sense energy efficiency legislation couldn’t survive Abbott’s devil-may-care veto spree.
ERCOT asked residents to use less electricity between 4-8 p.m. The conservation notice came before we even reached the summer solstice. We were told that while the grid “is not experiencing emergency conditions,” we still should raise our thermostats to 78 degrees, refrain from running large appliances and unplug lights and other appliances that aren’t needed.
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