Austin News

The Partnership for Renewable Energy Finance (PREF) recently sent Gov. Greg Abbott a letter opposing two bills proposing to ensure stable, competitive energy prices and grid reliability.

The PREF claims that the proposed legislation, Senate Bill 1278, sponsored by Sen, Kelly Hancock (R-North Richland Hills) and House Bill 4466, sponsored by Rep. Phil King (R-Parker) "rewrites market rules" and "imposes onerous new cost burdens."

Senate Bill 1278 aims to help alleviate reliability issues and limitations endemic to intermittent energy resources, like wind and solar renewables, by ensuring adequate generation capacity, especially when the sun is covered by clouds and the wind is low, Austin News previously reported.

The bills mandate that the Public Utility Commission “shall ensure that ancillary services necessary to facilitate the transmission of electric energy are not unreasonably preferential, prejudicial, discriminatory, predatory or anti-competitive," SB 1278 states.

The legislation also seeks to mitigate reliability issues and limitations associated with intermittent energy resources — such as wind and solar renewables — by ensuring adequate generation capacity, especially when the sun is obscured by clouds and the wind is low.

According to Forbes, renewable energy programs and investments tend to raise energy costs. For example, energy costs increased by 51% in Germany between 2006 and 2016 as the country increased its solar and wind energy. Similarly, from 2011 to 2017, California's solar energy expansion resulted in a 24% increase in energy costs.

All 28 PREF companies signing the letter opposing HB 4466 and SB 1278, including Amazon, Google, JP Morgan and Bank of America, do not have headquarters in Texas.JP Morgan and Bank of America have combined total assets value of more than $5 trillion and Google and Amazon have a combined total assets value of over $640 billion, Seeking Alpha reports.

Seven of the PREF 28 companies are based outside the United States. These include companies such as BayWa r.e., CIBC, Credit Suisse, Enel, Green Investment Group, Rabobank and RWE, which are respectively headquartered in Germany, Canada, Switzerland, Italy, Australia, The Netherlands and Germany.

In addition to SB 1278, Hancock has also proposed an amendment to Senate Bill 3 which would boost the reliability of the energy grid, particularly in emergency situations like the devastating winter storm in February or potential heat waves this coming summer, Lone Star Standard reports.