Feb. 21, 2011 ? TEXAS – Many questions remained unanswered following the handling of a winter storm energy emergency in Texas on February 2, 2011. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) initiated rolling blackout to combat a sudden severe deficit of power on the grid for residents across the Lone Star State, leaving many in the dark ? quite literally. In the aftermath, questions were raised as to the cause of the blackouts, and ERCOT’s handling of the emergency.

But those questions might finally be answered as the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) begins inquiries into the matter this week. Not only electric power was affected, but natural gas outages were reported in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and other states as well. According to

While the FERC governs a large swath of our nation’s power grids, they have limited jurisdiction in Texas, where ERCOT manages roughly 85% of the state’s grid. Furthermore, one spokeswoman for FERC indicated that they oversee ERCOT for ?reliability matters only?. Despite any boundaries over control and jurisdiction, ERCOT has launched its own investigation as well.

According to the currently available answers, the power plant outages were caused by frozen pipes and valves leading to shut-downs at up to 86 power plants. The blackouts and energy deficits are being attributed to sky-high electricity prices as much as $3,000 per megawatt-hour. ?Any decisions on whether to initiate enforcement investigations will be made at a later time,? said FERC representatives in a statement regarding its own probing of the matter.

So far, while several investigations continue across Texas to uncover more answers, ERCOT has repeatedly committed to cooperating in resolving the matter, pointing to unexpected winter weather and possible communication breakdowns as the key areas for future improvement.