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.

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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.”

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[–] 110 points 2 years ago (4 children)

State motto should be “Welcome to Hell.”

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  • [–] 44 points 2 years ago (2 children)
  • [+] 16 points 2 years ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 child)
  • [–] 7 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    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.

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  • [–] 7 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    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 …

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  • [–] 3 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    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?

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  • [–] [S] 67 points 2 years ago (5 children)

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

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  • [–] 62 points 2 years ago (2 children)

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

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  • [–] 8 points 2 years 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?"

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  • [–] 29 points 2 years ago (3 children)

    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.

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  • [–] 42 points 2 years ago* (3 children)

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

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago* (3 children)

    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.

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  • [–] 6 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 child)

    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.

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  • [–] 5 points 2 years ago (3 children)

    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.

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  • [–] 5 points 2 years 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

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago*

    Ok, then sue the middlemen for failing to withhold their side of the contract.

    They can deal with recouping the costs from their shitty suppliers.

    They'll either pressure the suppliers into change, or go out of business handing the liability back to the suppliers.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    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

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    [–] 44 points 2 years ago

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

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  • [–] 39 points 2 years ago (5 children)

    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.

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    [–] 21 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Texans sure must love being abused by their GOP rulers.

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  • [–] 18 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    And Texans should have no legal responsibility to pay taxes.

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  • [–] 16 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Texas is a 4th world shithole.

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  • [–] 7 points 2 years ago

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

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

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