ERCOT has to answer to not only their BoD, but the PUCT, and the Texas Congress. Anything they want to do, has to be approved. But nobody wants to raise funds to expand infrastructure by raising taxes, or rates. Not to mention, their regulator, PUCT, refuses to do jack as far as winterization and grid expansion. Also, the board of PUCT is only appointed by the Governor. This means that appointments change with new Governors which highlights the needs for a new Governor in Texas. Its funny that the Co-ops outside of ERCOT hardly experience any issues. The regulation that goes on is almost nonexistent because of PUCT and Texan Congress.
It's an actual nightmare to try get any design work done for them because of all of the meetings you have to have with PUCT and ERCOT. They are the worst to do contract work for and people hate working with them. T-Line design sucks for them and forget about Substation design.
It is an asinine system they have set up, and it seems they refuse to change. The growth of the market has been known for YEARS. This is not news. They're just making it news to place blame. What a bunch of idiots.
I don't know if you saw my comment, but yes. ERCOT has to answer to the PUCT and Texas Congress. It's a pain in the ass to get anything done and worse if they have to contract out, which is the case a lot of the time.
ERCOT warns Texas growth will substantially increase demand on power grid ( spectrumlocalnews.com )