‘Historic Winter Weather’ Got You Cold And Ranty

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m a little ranty. I’ve spent the better part of 48 hours huddled with family I’ve already been huddling closely with because of a pandemic.

I mean, I love these people, but me and winter have a deal. I live in Texas, and it only glances us. I like my feet warm, my beer and my heart cold, and my Internet freely streaming.

I have only two of those things right now. I’ve had power six of the last 48 hours, and yesterday I realized I could take a shower still but I’d have to sit in a 48 degree house with wet hair because while our water heater is gas, my hair dryer is decidedly electric, and we ain’t got none of that.

I am, in short, over it.

The Wednesday WTF is ranty this week. I know it could be worse, but really, could it? I ate out of the kid’s snack bin for breakfast today. We used a camp stove on the back deck just for the opportunity to boil water for instant — INSTANT — coffee, and it felt like we were ordering fancy room service we were so excited.

This sucks. And it could be avoided. WE (and by we, I’m doing that elementary school teacher thing when I really mean those two kids that make my life difficult) had nearly a whole dang week to prepare for this (ahem, Oncor and ERCOT), and even longer to take a hard look at our infrastructure and, IDK, address some stuff.

Like, for instance, occasionally it does get butt-ass cold here (note: butt-ass cold may seem redundant, but it’s a highly technical Southern meteorological term that means stupid cold), so if we have to be on our own grid because yee-haw Texas, maybe we make sure stuff is winterized? Maybe we require that? Maybe, bare minimum, we go ask one of those states where it’s expected to be butt-ass cold and say, “Oh hey, how do you keep your lights on when it’s way cold?”

This Houston Chronicle article is a great explainer for what went wrong. I read it last night in the dark while listening to my kids’ air mattress deflate:.

Ed Hirs, an energy fellow in the Department of Economics at the University of Houston, blamed the failures on the state’s deregulated power system, which doesn’t provide power generators with the returns needed to invest in maintaining and improving power plants.

“The ERCOT grid has collapsed in exactly the same manner as the old Soviet Union,” said Hirs. “It limped along on underinvestment and neglect until it finally broke under predictable circumstances.

“For more than a decade, generators have not been able to charge what it costs them to produce electricity,” said Hirs. “If you don’t make a return on your money, how can you keep it up? It’s like not taking care of your car. If you don’t change the oil and tires, you can’t expect your car to be ready to evacuate, let alone get you to work.”

The governor, several state legislators, and probably your mom are all asking for an accounting of how one of the biggest energy-producing states went flaccid at the worst time possible.

Add me to the list.