The mother of an 11-year-old boy who died after they lost electricity and heat in their Texas mobile home during last week's freeze has filed a $US100 million ($NZ136m) lawsuit against two power companies for gross negligence. More than four million people in Texas lost power and at least two dozen people died after a snowstorm blanketed the state last week and sent temperatures plunging well below freezing. The complaint filed on Saturday accused the defendants of ignoring a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission recommendation following a 2011 freeze to "winterize" the power grid, and were caught "wholly unprepared" when the grid failed last week. ERCOT, a cooperative responsible for about 90% of Texas' electricity, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Texas has an unusual, deregulated energy market that lets it avoid federal regulation but limits its ability to draw emergency power from other grids.

Source: Otago Daily Times February 22, 2021 21:11 UTC