Texas Electric Cooperatives Weathered Winter Storm Uri Nicely
The electric cooperatives operating in Texas held up nicely against Winter Storm Uri, which hit in February 2021 and caused nearly 4.5 million customers to lose power (nearly 70% of the state’s population). The proof is in the pudding – the state’s 60 electric coops received largely positive reviews from customers, yet the state’s 4 main commercial electric utilities were largely rated negatively by customers. This begs the question – why?
Why the Texas Electric Cooperatives Were Perceived More Positively by Customers
In order to understand consumer perceptions of the event, a division of the University of Houston conducted an online survey which reached over 90% of the state’s population. In the regulated part of the state (25% of the total), electric cooperatives serve about 21% of the market, whereas municipal and commercial electric utilities serve about 73% (private companies serve the other 6%).
Of the customers who lost power during the event, the survey revealed very different perceptions when comparing feedback from commercial utility customers vs. feedback from electric coop customers. For example, 24% of Texans served by coops had a negative evaluation, compared to 55-61% for those served by the large utilities.
Although the survey itself did not reveal the drivers of these perceptions, the Forbes article I linked to above suggests three possibilities:
- Electric cooperatives, by virtue of the vested interest their customers have in the business as well as their relatively smaller size, may be more committed to their customers than the large traditional utilities.
- Coop members may perceive that their utility assigns a higher priority to their interests compared to traditional utilities.
- Utilities operating in regulated markets in general may be better equipped to respond to emergency situations because they control all aspects of delivery – commercialization, transmission and distribution – whereas deregulated utilities often split responsibility over commercialization and T&D with other entities.
No matter what the reason, clearly the electric cooperatives throughout the state did something right. It’s not easy to restore power, and it can sometimes be a thankless job. The fact that the Texas coops were able to fulfill this mission while still being positively viewed by their customers is impressive.
