ERCOT's unaffiliated board members plan to resign in wake of blackouts

Houston — All four unaffiliated Electric Reliability Council of Texas board members on Feb. 23 notified the Public Utility Commission of Texas of their plans to resign their seats at the end of the Feb. 24 urgent board meeting, scheduled to discuss last week's polar vortex and rolling blackouts.

Also, another unaffiliated director candidate in line to fill an open seat withdrew from consideration. The resignations leave the board with 11 seated members

In the wake of the rolling blackouts that affected about 2.8 million customers across the state, some have questioned the idea of having board members who reside outside Texas.

The resigning board members are:

• Sally Talberg, board chairman, a former Michigan Public Service Commission member
• Peter Cramton, board vice chairman, an economics professor at the University of Cologne, Germany, and the University of Maryland
• Terry Bulger, Finance and Audit Committee chairman, former executive vice president for the US of BMO Financial Group, a Canadian financial services company
• Raymond Hepper, Human Resources and Governance Committee chairman, former general counsel and corporate secretary at ISO New England

The identify of the person who withdrew their candidacy as an unaffiliated director could not be confirmed at deadline.

The remaining 11 board members are ERCOT's president and CEO, plus representatives of the Public Utility Commission of Texas or some segment of the power market, such as consumer, independent power marketer, independent generator, independent retail electric provider, electric cooperative or municipal power utilities.