Power Outages Main Cause of Oil, Gas Shut-Ins (Correct)

Texas lawmakers’ attempt to understand why the state’s power system failed last week yielded plenty of blame but few clear answers on how to prevent a similar crisis in the future.

In two marathon hearings, lawmakers grilled the state’s biggest power providers, its grid operator and regulators about the blackouts that left more than four million homes and businesses without heat, light and water during a deep winter freeze.

Executives from Calpine Corp., Vistra Corp. and NRG Energy Inc. blamed natural gas-supply shortages, grid disturbances and a lack of communication from the grid operator known as Ercot. Ercot, meanwhile, ...