Hopefully not as bad, but, well, you know.
Savor the rest of the summer and all of fall because this winter in Texas is going to be “frigid and flaky” similar to February’s deadly storm, according to the Farmers’ Almanac.
The Almanac, which has been predicting the weather outlook for farmers and gardeners for over 200 years, says to expect a “frosty flip-flop winter” for the United States. For most of the country, there will be near-normal amounts of snow with some notable month-to-month variations, the Alamanc says.
In late January, Texas and Oklahoma may be in for icy weather “like you experienced last winter,” according to the Almanac’s report.
The Farmers’ Almanac previously predicted Texas’ winter storm Uri in which heavy snowfall, ice storms and bitter temperatures brought an enormous strain on the state’s power grid, leaving millions without electricity. Over 200 people died.
[…]
Before Texans start booking resort days in Cancun, the almanac is hoping the conditions will not be as bad as Uri.
“Hopefully, it won’t be as robust, but it doesn’t hurt to be prepared,” the Almanac said.
We can talk about Greg Abbott’s approval ratings right now all we want. If we have another freeze that’s anything like this past February, especially if people lose power like they did this year, forget it. After all his claims about how everything was fixed now, he better damn well hope so.
18 days and counting…..
MASS RAPE RATHER
RE: “if people lose power like they did this year”
Please remember that ERCOT/PUC shut us off for the greater good of the grid and the profits of the generators and their natural gas suppliers. They cut off the juice to about half of the customer base deliberately and hiked the unit price for the remaining half of the power market into the stratosphere by fiat.
From $25-$30 average before the crisis to $9,000 per MWh during the crisis, and then some more for good measure to prolong the Category 5 windfall for the energy industry.
https://www.spglobal.com/platts/en/market-insights/latest-news/natural-gas/021621-texas-regulators-keep-prices-near-9000mwh-cap-during-rotating-outages
We didn’t just “lose” it. We got screwed, and we didn’t ask for it.
Why is no one crying rape? Mass rape? Where was the consent?
Where is the compensation for harm suffered?
CORPS ARE PEOPLE, PEOPLE ARE JUST PRE-DEATH CORPSES
Actual people (“human needs units”) as opposed to profit-oriented entities were deemed off-loadable/expendable in the eyes of the powers-that-were and continue to be, and didn’t even have to be compensated (unlike the industrial plants that participated in the demand-response program and were rewarded handsomely for MWhs that the didn’t use during the storm). And for those poor expendable wretches who died, we got ERCOT multi-district litigation to handle surviver claims and SCOTX-fashioned immunities.
Those companies got paid top dollars for the voluntary demand reduction. How much did you get?
We, the human needs customers just got free cooling thanks to Father Frost and Mother Nature.
And it wasn’t voluntary. We had to just lay back under multiple layers of bedding, and try to survive without enjoying it one bit.
Wolf is absolutely correct here about this one, specific issue…..again.
Having said that, we saw some nominal policy changes that are likely to preclude a redux of this February’s power debacle. The most important of these changes being, designating natural gas producers and natural gas pipeline compressor stations as critical infrastructure that can not be cut off. Why this wasn’t already in the plans is puzzling, but, it is in the plans now, so that’s a big relief.
Second, a better coordination of planned outages for maintenance should help us not get caught again with our pants down when we need capacity, And finally, the artificial spike in energy prices, courtesy of Abbott’s former PUC appointees…..that can’t happen again. For starters, this time, the appointees actually are required to live in Texas, meaning that if they choose to sell out Texans for money, the pitchfork and torch carrying mobs will be able to actually find them.
This is, perhaps, the absolute best issue to rid Texas of Abbott, because the left and right unite against him on this issue. His appointees did this to us, fleecing every electric customer in Texas. I renewed an energy contract a couple of months ago, and went from paying $ .09/kWh to $ .106/kWh. Ouch. That’s real money out of my pocket, and if you haven’t yet had to get a new contract, just wait…..you’re going to paying more, too.
I’ll say that some of the increase is Bidenflation, as our oil & gas and coal industries are attacked at will, but much of this increase is no doubt energy companies recouping what they lost during the freeze, as they had to pay the PUC rate for spot power.