Texas to Revisit Power-Reserve Policy After Watchdog Debate (1)

Texas power regulators will participate in a review of methods used to obtain backup electricity supplies after an uncharacteristically sharp debate between the grid operator and its watchdog.

The Texas Public Utility Commission will take part in a “true reevaluation” by the end of April of how the grid manager procures so-called ancillary services, PUC member Lori Cobos said in Austin on Tuesday. Her comments came six months after the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, or Ercot, launched its first new backup-services program in more than two decades.

That service, called the Ercot Contingency Reserve Service, or ECRS, created “artificial ...