Ohio compared to Texas: Could widespread, multi-day power outages happen here?

As Texas faced colder than normal winter weather and power outages last month, Ohio University junior and Texas native Alex Boddie tried to stay connected with family and friends and make sure they were okay while he was in Athens. 

“I was hearing what was happening with my friends who all, you know, obviously they go to schools like Texas A&M, UT [University of Texas], and they stay around the area,” he said. 

Boddie said he heard from his parents, who live in the Houston suburb of Katy, at first. But as their electronics died and their power stayed off, he had to wait and worry until they could charge their phones and contact him again. 

“My parents were pretty lucky because we actually have a gas stove so that was able to provide some warmth,” he said. 

Boddie’s grandparents, who live in east Houston, were able to stay with his aunt and uncle who had a stove working to keep warm. 

Others weren’t as lucky. Boddie says multiple people in his neighborhood had their pipes burst. 

“A lot of people, like most houses, at least in my area, the pipes are in the attic, so if those burst it just comes raining down on you and it’s freezing and, you know, because there are no basements,” he said. 

The Associated Press reported a lack of energy supply in the state and a lack of preparation for the freezing temperatures caused Texas’ widespread power outages last month. 

Ohioans are much more accustomed to freezing winter weather, but could a similar energy crisis happen in the Buckeye state? 

Matt Schilling, the spokesperson for the Public Utilities Commision of Ohio (PUCO), said there are several differences in Ohio’s electrical infrastructure that would prevent a situation similar to what happened in Texas.

Ohio’s power grid is part of a regional grid, run by a nonprofit organization called PJM Interconnection. 

“They are essentially telling power plants and the high voltage transmission line owners where and when to direct power so it can reach users at our homes and businesses,” Schilling said. 

Because PJM operates in a 13-state region, it’s regulated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). This is a big difference from how Texas’ power grid is set up, he said.

The FERC lays out “robust market rules for how power plant operators and transmission operators need to conduct business,” Schilling said. 

Schilling said when Texas power plants were having trouble generating enough electricity, they had difficulties importing power from other states.

“Because the Texas grid is really within the state boundaries there, they don’t have actually good connections of their power lines to nearby states,” Schilling said. 

But in Ohio, we don’t have this problem. 

“The whole PJM service territory is interconnected with the entire eastern seaboard’s, so the entire eastern half of the United States is essentially connected to one big power grid. So when situations and weather events happen here in Ohio in the PJM region, we can rely on our neighbors to help us out,” Schilling said.

Another hardship some Texans faced was the cost of their February energy bill. The Associated Press reported the electricity provider Griddy allows Texans to pay wholesale prices for electricity, charging $10 a month, instead of a fixed rate. When the freezing temperatures rolled into the state, wholesale prices spiked from increased demand, leaving Griddy customers with electricity bills in the thousands. 

Schilling layed out the key differences in how Ohio’s electricity market operates compared to Texas’. 

“When electricity is bought and sold at the wholesale level by power plants and big energy companies, there are structural limits in place in the marketplace for how high that price can be so basically the real-time price in energy. There are caps at the PJM level that can cap what those wholesale rates are. There are no such caps in Texas,” he said. 

Schilling said the caps in Ohio range, depending on the season. from $1,800 to $2,200. 

Boddie said he believes that Texas leaders are to blame for this situation. 

“I think this really falls upon the leaders of our state. I think Greg Abbott, especially Ted Cruz, all could’ve done a much better job with the response to this,” he said.