Texas Power Outages Cost Consumers $35,685 per Megawatt-Hour, PUCT Analysis Reveals Significant Financial Impact.

Power outages in Texas cost consumers $35,685 per megawatt-hour of load that goes unserved, according to a Brattle analysis by the Public Utility Commission of Texas. The analysis, based on a survey commissioned by the PUCT, calculated the Value of Lost Load (VOLL), which is a proxy for customer costs and impacts due to a power outage. The VOLL figure will be used in planning studies and the performance credit mechanism analysis. The Public Utility Commissioner of Texas adopted a lower figure, recommending it at $30,000/MWh. However, some commissioners agreed with Brattle’s higher figure, stating that the difference between 35 and 30 is not a huge impact and as a starting point, $35k/Mwh is a good starting point.