Light and Life: Using the Public Utility Commission of Texas Sunset Review to Safeguard Texans’ Health and Wellbeing

a primer by Texas Impact

sponsored by Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas, Inc.

OVERVIEW

When Texans think about health and health equity, they may think about healthcare providers like doctors and hospitals; they may think about health insurance; or they may think about personal choices like healthy eating or exercise. But particularly after 2021’s Winter Storm Uri, Texans have seen that advancing health also requires attention to the state’s electric, water, and broadband systems.

Typically, public utility policy has been the province of regulators; providers; businesses; and ratepayers. That framework has not included more than passing concern for the public health importance of public utilities. According to its mission statement, the PUCT’s mission is to “protect customers, foster competition, and promote high quality infrastructure.” While these are important objectives for utility regulation, they do not directly take into account the impact public utilities have on Texans’ health.

For many Texans, the devastation of Winter Storm Uri in 2021 was their first introduction to the PUCT and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT). The failings of the electric industry and the actions of these entities in a time of extraordinary need pulled them out of regulatory obscurity, making them household names and easily identifiable targets for consumers, advocates, and the Texas Legislature.

Rather than castigating utility regulators for past failings, though, the legislature should use the opportunity of the Texas’ Sunset Advisory Commission review process to examine the alignment of the state’s utility regulatory structure with Texas’ high-level policy goals. In particular, as a key element of the Commission’s review, the Commission should consider the impact that public utility regulation has on human health, both in catastrophes and on a daily basis, and make recommendations that ensure protecting public health is a key strategy of the PUCT and ERCOT going forward.