303
submitted 6 months ago by DevCat@lemmy.world to c/politics@lemmy.world

Almost three years since the deadly Texas blackout of 2021, a panel of judges from the First Court of Appeals in Houston has ruled that big power companies cannot be held liable for failure to provide electricity during the crisis. The reason is Texas’ deregulated energy market.

The decision seems likely to protect the companies from lawsuits filed against them after the blackout. It leaves the families of those who died unsure where next to seek justice.

...

This week, Chief Justice Terry Adams issued the unanimous opinion of that panel that “Texas does not currently recognize a legal duty owed by wholesale power generators to retail customers to provide continuous electricity to the electric grid, and ultimately to the retail customers.”

The opinion states that big power generators “are now statutorily precluded by the legislature from having any direct relationship with retail customers of electricity.”

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] mateomaui@reddthat.com 110 points 6 months ago

State motto should be “Welcome to Hell.”

[-] NegativeInf@lemmy.world 44 points 6 months ago
[-] reddig33@lemmy.world 16 points 6 months ago

I wish this state would split into multiple smaller states. Not all of us who live here are conservative nut jobs. Let us have our autonomy from the red counties.

[-] PrincessLeiasCat@sh.itjust.works 7 points 6 months ago

They know they need the entirety of the size of the state to overcome any of the larger metro areas. Break that up and they’ll lose the power & prestige it brings in the Electoral College. They’ll never give that up, hence the massive voter suppression.

[-] cerement@slrpnk.net 7 points 6 months ago

fun little thought experiment: Texas secedes from the US but then the metro centers secede from Texas and rejoin the US (Dallas taking banking with them, Austin taking the capital, San Antonio taking the Alamo, …) – we can let them keep scenic Midland and Odessa, but Big Bend National Park and Johnson Space Center as well as all the military bases are federal property …

[-] PrincessLeiasCat@sh.itjust.works 3 points 6 months ago

Oh yah I’m all in, but then to drive to any other area I’d have to cross into the badlands. Can we take the interstates too with the big cities?

[-] cerement@slrpnk.net 1 points 6 months ago

well they were paid for with federal tax dollars and we know how much Texans love paying taxes …

[-] PrincessLeiasCat@sh.itjust.works 2 points 6 months ago

My thought as well. Let’s do this!

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 7 points 6 months ago

That guy with all the exes who live in Texas better be worried because Hell is freezing over.

[-] mateomaui@reddthat.com 6 points 6 months ago

No worries, that’s why he hangs his hat in Tennessee, which probably comes with its own issues.

load more comments (5 replies)
[-] LeadSoldier@lemmy.world 5 points 6 months ago

I had to live in HEll Paso because I was stationed there in the army. Iraq was better. The good news is I was able to leave.

[-] CH3DD4R_G0BL1N@sh.itjust.works 4 points 6 months ago

“Don’t mess with Texas! (We do it enough ourselves)”

[-] Buddahriffic@lemmy.world 2 points 6 months ago

"Don't mess with Texas! (We reserve the right to mess with you)"

[-] DevCat@lemmy.world 67 points 6 months ago

When you create an account with a utility, aren't you creating a contract with them? What happened to contractual duty?

[-] cerement@slrpnk.net 62 points 6 months ago

“We are altering the terms. Pray we do not alter them any further.”

[-] WhatAmLemmy@lemmy.world 8 points 6 months ago

"Well, in the land of the fee, your level of freedom is directly proportional to your wealth, and the corporations have... an ungodly amount of wealth... but you... you're a peasant... you understand?"

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] ShittyBeatlesFCPres@lemmy.world 29 points 6 months ago

I don’t think it works that way in Texas. There’s a layer of energy resellers who customers create an account with. Those resellers buy energy from the main utility companies and offer different plans. So, there’s no contract between consumer and generator.

[-] AlwaysNowNeverNotMe@kbin.social 42 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

Ah yes more middlemen with do nothing jobs ment to reduce corporate liability. The American dream.

[-] baldingpudenda@lemmy.world 22 points 6 months ago

Dont disparage what they do. They also add to the price so they can profit. Clearly, added value.

[-] BraveSirZaphod@kbin.social 1 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

It's a separation between power generation and power delivery. We have the same thing in New York. Someone has to own the actual delivery infrastructure, which in NYC is generally this company called ConEdison. They'll also provide the generate power for you, but you have the right to switch to other providers. For instance, I could switch to a provider that generated all power from renewable sources, though it is naturally more expensive.

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 6 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

Maybe it works that way in NYC, but here in Indiana, I get one option for a power company. Power, gas, water, sewer, trash collection, all single option. And no, that single option is not a government one because I live outside city limits. Until they laid fiber in this neighborhood last year, I only had one option for internet too.

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] Zorque@kbin.social 5 points 6 months ago

Someone has to own the actual delivery infrastructure,

Do they, though? I hear there's this neat thing called "public ownership" that works wonders for basic necessities like utilities. And that way you don't have someone scheming to profit off the things you need to stay alive.

[-] Uranium3006@kbin.social 5 points 6 months ago

During the Great privatization scam we are promised that the free market would somehow be magically more efficient but it turns out it was a just so they could show profit Hearing in the middle of stuff that had previously been free of it. Worst service and higher prices were universally the result because those profits have to come from somewhere and that'somewhere is you

[-] lolcatnip@reddthat.com 2 points 6 months ago

There are lots of examples of private companies working well as regulated monopolies. The key word is "regulated", though.

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] Salvo@aussie.zone 1 points 6 months ago

We had a Internet Wholesaler in our previous residence who wanted to do the retail side as well. They had the monopoly on the estate we were in, so the ACCC forced them to break up.

With multiple retailers, we suddenly had much better customer assistance, but prices stayed the same.

[-] cerement@slrpnk.net 1 points 6 months ago

that and how many of their customers can afford (or have the spare time) for a contract lawyer?

load more comments (2 replies)
[-] Uranium3006@kbin.social 2 points 6 months ago

In my experience contracts are one-sided. The big corpo end of the contract basically has no real power over them but they sure can use their contract to fuck you little guy over. All the contract does is allow a corporation to use state power against you really. No contracts that's not between equals never truly be fair unless we were to have a public defender system for civil court

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (2 replies)
[-] Quaternions@lemmy.world 44 points 6 months ago

Yet another reason why I'll never live in Texas.

[-] RampageDon@lemmy.world 39 points 6 months ago

Remember when Texas was threatening to secede and then everyone realized the state just falls apart when they have any kind of weather besides 90 and sunny.

load more comments (5 replies)
[-] Jaysyn@kbin.social 21 points 6 months ago

Texans sure must love being abused by their GOP rulers.

[-] Showroom7561@lemmy.ca 2 points 6 months ago

Stockholm Syndrome

[-] Pratai@lemmy.ca 18 points 6 months ago

And Texans should have no legal responsibility to pay taxes.

[-] XTornado@lemmy.ml 2 points 6 months ago

Or the bill tbh...

[-] rivermonster@lemmy.world 18 points 6 months ago

Texas is a 4th world shithole.

[-] EatYouWell@lemmy.world 12 points 6 months ago

As a Texan, you're insulting 4th world shitholes

[-] Rivalarrival 9 points 6 months ago

All this really means is that the life insurance companies won't be able to transfer their financial liability to the power companies.

[-] Vaginal_blood_fart@sh.itjust.works 3 points 6 months ago

Shit states gonna shit state..what a joke of a dump.

load more comments
view more: next ›
this post was submitted on 19 Dec 2023
303 points (99.0% liked)

politics

18075 readers
2857 users here now

Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!

Rules:

  1. Post only links to articles, Title must fairly describe link contents. If your title differs from the site’s, it should only be to add context or be more descriptive. Do not post entire articles in the body or in the comments.
  2. Articles must be relevant to politics. Links must be to quality and original content. Articles should be worth reading. Clickbait, stub articles, and rehosted or stolen content are not allowed. Check your source for Reliability and Bias here.
  3. Be civil, No violations of TOS. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect!
  4. No memes, trolling, or low-effort comments. Reposts, misinformation, off-topic, trolling, or offensive.
  5. Vote based on comment quality, not agreement. This community aims to foster discussion; please reward people for putting effort into articulating their viewpoint, even if you disagree with it.
  6. No hate speech, slurs, celebrating death, advocating violence, or abusive language. This will result in a ban. Usernames containing racist, or inappropriate slurs will be banned without warning

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.

That's all the rules!

Civic Links

Register To Vote

Citizenship Resource Center

Congressional Awards Program

Federal Government Agencies

Library of Congress Legislative Resources

The White House

U.S. House of Representatives

U.S. Senate

Partnered Communities:

News

World News

Business News

Military News

Global Politics

Moderate Politics

Progressive Politics

UK Politics

Canadian Politics

Australian Politics

New Zealand Politics

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS