Lubbock’s Electric Utility Board (the Lubbock Power & Light board) voted unanimously on Tuesday to approve an agreement of terms concerning a transition into the ERCOT market.
ERCOT is the Electric Reliability Council of Texas. ERCOT operates the electric grid for most of Texas, however, Lubbock and few other Texas cities are in the Southwest Power Pool.
The vote is one more step in the process of LP&L’s application to connect to the ERCOT power grid. The terms of the agreement still need to be approved by the Lubbock City Council on Thursday.
If approved, they will send the terms on to be filed at the Public Utility Commission, leaving the final decision up to the commission.
The stipulation contained 16 points. Among those, LP&L agrees to pay a one-time sum of $24 million to Southwestern Public Service (Xcel Energy) to help offset costs to their customers.
Other points include a revenue reduction of $22 million per year for five years, beginning in June 2021, to help offset any costs to wholesale ERCOT customers.
Another stipulation guarantees the ability of Lubbock to opt-in to the competitive market if the transition is approved.
The Electric Utility Board members said they believe the savings will far exceed this payment. EUB members believe customers should not see any increase in their electric bills.
(Avery Travis atravis@kamc.tv contributed to this report.)
