Explainer Video Script

Electricity is essential to our everyday lives and our growing economy.

It is a unique resource whose supply has to equal its demand every second of every day to prevent brownouts or blackouts.

An electricity market has to ensure reliability. Better than a highway, it has to be able to handle rush hour capacity, as easily as a few cars on Sunday morning.

Demand for electricity is outpacing supply and our current system is not encouraging new supply. Reliability experts say that in the coming decade, the Texas electric grid is facing a shortage.

Eventually we won’t have the extra power we need for our hot summers. Some say: “just let the current system continue. Eventually demand will drive up prices and power companies will build more plants.”

This is true if you want higher prices, along with rolling blackouts. In fact, a new report says rolling blackouts could be 10 times more likely in a few short years.

Waiting for high prices and rolling blackouts isn’t smart and it’s no way to ensure Texas maintains its competitive edge over other states.

It takes three years to build a new power plant so either we fix the problem now and ensure new capacity is developed in time or we wait until rolling blackouts are more frequent and severe to begin building new power plants.

There is a better way to ensure a much more reliable electric grid. Through a competitive capacity market we can ensure that enough power will be available to meet our growing needs. It costs roughly the same as the system which is beginning to fail us.

A capacity market will lead to new competing power resources, and greater grid reliability. And in extreme weather years it even saves money. It’s time to invest in our grid, before it is too late.

Act before the crises, Texas.

To learn more, visit www.texansforreliablepower.com