Pipeline Company Threatening To Cut Off Natural Gas Service To 5 Texas Power Plants
NORTH TEXAS (CBSDFW.COM) — A major pipeline company is threatening to cutoff natural gas to five power plants in Texas, a move that could have a major impact on the state power grid.
Several subsidiaries of electricity generation company Vistra Corp., including Dallas-based Luminant Energy, filed a request with the Texas Railroad Commission on January 19 to stop the shutdown. In the complaint the companies said the "threat to terminate service in the middle of winter is illegal and grossly irresponsible and should be prohibited".
The fight centers around money related to the February 2021 winter storms.
The pipeline company Energy Transfer LP -- which is run by Dallas billionaire Kelcy Warren -- says Luminant needs to pay $21 million in penalties for oversupplying natural gas during the deadly winter freeze that knocked off gas supplies, contributing to power outages that left many Texans in the dark for days when the state was experiencing unusually frigid temperatures.
Luminant says the power plants that would be shut down serve some 400,000 Texas homes, businesses, hospitals, and schools.