Lieutenant Governor Patrick headlined many articles this week because he wants to pass legislation that will incent investors to build more natural gas power generation plants as he believes that is the solution to avoiding another Winter Storm Uri catastrophe.
The problem with this is that the failure of natural gas-generated electricity was the primary reason for the near collapse of the ERCOT grid during Uri. So building more power plants, to be powered by a fuel that has roughly doubled in price from before Uri to today will be a pricing catastrophe for Texas. Pair this with his desire to shift Texas from an ‘energy market’ design to a quasi-‘capacity’ market and we have the ingredients for even further rising electricity prices. And less reliability.
The irony is that a fellow Republican thinks his effort to “level the playing field” between renewables and natural gas generation is a conservative approach. Of course it is not and if the Lt. Governor intervenes with taxpayer money to double down on even more natural gas generation, the cost increases will be felt across the state. “Picking favorites” this legislative session will further distort the ERCOT marketplace.
Contrast Mr. Patrick’s view from Austin to that in San Angelo, which just celebrated another solar farm in West Texas. In attendance were Republican leaders from its County Judge to Congressman August Pfluger, and the district director representing Senator Charles Perry. This was not a group of liberal activists, we can be sure, but clear-eyed leaders who understand that energy resiliency is gained by an ERCOT grid that integrates the least cost fuels to provide the maximum reliability and value to Texans. It is ok to believe in an all-the-above approach for Texas and ERCOT.
The other side of the Patrick headlines this week were about property tax reform and are telling; his proposed reforms won’t significantly and permanently reduce property taxes, just as more natural gas plants won’t improve cost-effective reliability. Both his natural gas plan and his tax reform proposals are bumper sticker-deep but we’re past election season. Now it’s time to govern.
Real property tax reform isn’t a modest ISD homestead increase. Instead we must constrain government spending and that means exercising real political leadership to get a 2.5% voter-approval-rate and ridding this state of the silliest Tax Code provision ever: ‘tax increment rate’ – in essence ‘rollover” tax rate but unlike old mobile cellular plans that rolled over unused minutes for one month, the 3-year tax rate rollover period ensures 3.5% tax revenue increases in perpetuity with zero taxpayer veto.
Likewise, real reform for ERCOT isn’t more natural gas plants. Serious reform might start with placing natural gas distribution and availability under the purview of the Public Utilities Commission. Hard things that might require moving someone’s cheese.
Because the election is over – it’s time to govern Texas.
Howard Arey is the chair of the Texas Solar Energy Society board of directors and the owner of Solar CenTex, a solar installation company that designs and installs residential, commercial, farm and ranch, and small municipal solar projects.