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The state’s deregulated power market is also fiercely competitive. ERCOT oversees the grid, while power generators produce electricity for the wholesale market. Some 300 retail electricity providers buy that fuel and then compete for consumers. Because such cold weather is rare, energy companies do not invest in “winterising” their equipment, as this would raise their prices for consumers. Perhaps most important, the state does not have a “capacity market” to ensure that there was extra power available for surging demand. Such systems elsewhere act as a sort of insurance policy so the lights will not go out, but it also means customers pay higher bills.
开放的得州电力市场竞争激烈。得克萨斯州电力可靠性协会负责监管电网，各大发电商为电力批发市场发电。大约300家零售电力供应商购买电力燃料争夺消费者。这样的寒冷天气在得州极其罕见，因此能源公司并未投资“过冬”设备，因为这将提高他们为消费者的定价。也许最重要的一点在于，得州没有设立“发电容量市场”，以确保其有额外电力可供激增的需求。为保险起见，其他地区设立了发电容量市场系统，能够确保当地的灯不会熄灭，但这同样意味着用户需要支付更高额的账单。
For years the benefits of Texas’s deregulated market structure were clear. At 8.6 cents per kilowatt hour, the state’s average retail price for electricity is around onefifth lower than the national average and about half the cost of California’s. In 1999 the state set targets for renewables, and today it accounts for around 30% of America’s wind energy.
多年来，得州电力市场的开放性结构带来的好处清晰可见。该州的平均零售电价为每千瓦时8.6美分，比美国平均电价低五分之一左右，约为加州电价的一半。1999年，得州制定了可再生能源的目标，如今其可再生能源占美国风能的30%左右。
This disaster is prompting people to question whether Texas’s system is as resilient and well-designed as people previously believed. Greg Abbott, the governor, has called for an investigation into ERCOT. This storm “has exposed some serious weaknesses in our free-market approach in Texas”, says Luke Metzger of Environment Texas, a non-profit, who had been without power for three full days when The Economist went to press.
这场灾难促使人们质疑得克萨斯州的电力系统是否像人们之前认为的那样具有弹性且构思甚佳。州长格雷格·阿博特呼吁对得克萨斯州电力可靠性协会展开调查。非营利组织得州环境的卢克·梅茨格表示，这场暴风雪“暴露了得州自由市场方法的一些严重弱点”。在《经济学人》付印时，卢克·梅茨格已经停电整整三天了。
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