A Texas appeals panel of three judges decided on Wednesday that lawsuits regarding winter storm damages against transmission and distribution utilities (TDUs) can move forward.
The ruling came from Texas’s 14th Court of Appeals in Houston and will allow lawsuits related to the deadly 2021 winter storm to proceed on allegations of negligence against defendants CenterPoint Energy, Oncor Electric Delivery and American Electric Power.
Lawsuits claim these TDUs were responsible for providing power during the storm and handling a historic demand for energy. Thousands of customers sued companies involved in Texas’s electric grid seeking compensation for the power outages during Winter Storm Uri, which led to over 200 deaths.
The companies argued that they are not responsible for the alleged damages according to a state Supreme Court precedent and the “comprehensive regulatory scheme, including the TDUs’ tariffs for retail delivery service.”
Ultimately, the panel stated that the companies were negligent when they stopped electricity in response to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which declared a level three emergency within an hour.
The panel said the TDUs are not protected from “gross negligence or intentional misconduct.” The ruling outlined specific allegations plaintiffs made, including the company’s decisions during the storm to rotate outages to different neighborhoods and to cut power off to certain areas.
“There is no denying the intentional actions and blatant disregard for the TDU’s own customers,” stated Ann Saucer, a lawyer from Nachawati Law Group, to Business Wire. told Business Wire. “It was a conscious decision to cut off power to certain neighborhoods and several people lost their lives as a result. These companies were warned, and they chose not to act.”
Uri knocked out power for millions of Texas when temperatures dipped below freezing, kick-starting an ongoing conversation about the state’s electric grid. Hundreds of fatalities were recorded, and $300 billion in damages has been estimated.
The Hill has reached out to the utilities for comment.
