Bill Magness joined ERCOT in 2010, and became ERCOTs president and chief executive officer after six years in January 2016. And I think we really saw some results of it in 2018 when we had what used to be our winter peak demand. But I think you do see some evidence that the approach had some results. Mr. Magness was among the state utility officials and electric company leaders brought before lawmakers for hours of intense questioning. February 25, 2021 file photo shows Bill Magness, president and CEO of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), testifying at a Committees on State Affairs and Energy Resources joint . All of this was caused by a weather system he described as bigger than anything the agency's forecasters ever predicted, throwing into question the forecast models used to predict winter weather and the states power needs. The leader of the states utility regulator, the Public Utility Commission, bowed to mounting pressure by resigning on Monday. Grid operators unplugged more than 4 million customers as the system buckled, which Magness has said was necessary to avert an even more catastrophic blackout that could have lasted months. TM: Should ERCOT do more to consider the potential effects of climate change in its forecasting? He built what became TCI by staying rural and using expensive, floating-rate bank debt. You get a lot less out of solar when the polar-vortex-type winds blow through. Notify me of follow-up comments by email. Magness hovered in the shadows--and hung onto a substantial stake in the company. Bill Magness, president and CEO of ERCOT, spoke with NBC 5 Senior Investigative Reporter Scott Friedman Tuesday morning and said if the weather cooperates and if they get more power. As CEO of the nonprofit that oversees the state's power grid, it was up to Magness to ensure Texas had a reliable electric system. The impending departure of the executive, Bill Magness, is the storms latest fallout, with lawmakers vowing to hold officials accountable and overhaul the power system. During this time, Magness defended the companys decision to fire him. But we had much better results. In 2017, he was the chief executive of ERCOT. And if so, why? One time she wrote about sports. We really saw across the resource portfolio, it was just really the nature of the storm this time. I certainly could have done a better job emphasizing what was coming and had that communication with the board in more depth as well. So I understand your frustration, said Magness. He had been president and CEO of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, but was removed following last month's winter storm that resulted in days-long blackouts for more than 4 million Texas residents. Bill Magness Salary and Net Worth: How Much Does ERCOT CEO Make A Year? But Wednesday night, ERCOT's board of directors pulled the plug on Magness in the wake of statewide power outages and gave Magness 60 days notice to terminate his contract. On Thursday afternoon and Friday morning, reporter Jeffrey Ball talked to Bill Magness, the president of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, ERCOT, the grid operator at the center of. The rest of the board voted, 6 to 1, on Wednesday night to replace Mr. Magness, who had led the agency since 2016. Bill Magnesss most recent responsibility was the CEO of Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT). Lawmakers argued that ERCOT and others had failed to act after previous winter storms and to adequately prepare Texas electric system for harsh conditions. The graphs shared Wednesday showed for days many were not able to re-start and that's what turned this into such a devastating crisis with lives lost and homes damaged. Copyright 2021 KBTX. Its daily. According to the record, Bill Magness had 40 hours of work per week. The patchwork of government programs for adults with disabilities, and their varying eligibility rules, create complications and traps. His salary is currently around $800K. I think thats where they appropriately should, because there are debates about who pays what and how costs are allocated. And thats where policymakers decide if its winterization thats going to solve my problem and Im willing to pay for it. Malone guided TCI to accumulate 14 million subscribers before selling to AT&T in 1999 for $48 billion. Our Resolve Has Never Been Stronger: The Relatives of Uvalde Victims Advocate for Gun Control in the Lege, Step Aside, Perrys: This 30-Ounce Smoked Pork Chop Is Ready to Take the Crown, Willie Nelsons Son Lukas on Ancient Texts, Pearl Jam, and I Never Cared for You, Love and Death in Silicon Prairie, Part I: Candy Montgomerys Affair, I Biked the I-35 Hell Route From Austin to San Antonio So You Dont Have To, Texas-Style Pulled Pork Is Embarrassing, The Astrodomes Decline From Eighth Wonder to Eighth Blunder of the World, 15 Treasure-Filled Spots to Antique in Small-town Texas, Mosquito Hawks Are Flitting All Over Texas, Matthew McConaughey Is Monetizing His Whole Vibe, Love and Death in Silicon Prairie, Part II: The Killing of Betty Gore. DeAnn Walker, the chairwoman of the Public Utility Commission of Texas, also resigned this week following calls from Lt. Gov. Here's how. ERCOT typically does not share personnel records according to a company official. TM: Isnt that true too of a weatherization requirement? Bill Magness was fired, officially without cause, Wednesday. Bill Magness salary was more than $876,000 in the year 2019. He is the second senior official to depart in the wake of one of the worst blackouts in U.S. history. he/him. NBC5 Investigates contacted Magness directly and asked if he would release the details of both his severance and his contract. The move came as the grid operator is now under investigation by the House Oversight Committee. Even so, the decision had grave implications for millions of Texans. Cinco De Mayo Is Only One Day, Yet Latino Consumers Deserve Attention All Year, Lionel Messi Return Off As FC Barcelona Fail To Convince La Liga With Viability Plan: Reports, The Worlds Best Blended WhiskeyAccording To The 2023 San Francisco World Spirits Competition, Should Generative AI ChatGPT Be Made Available Unfettered Unfiltered And Likely Vile, Asks AI Ethics And AI Law, JPMorgan Chase Agrees To Acquire First Republic Banks Deposits After It Is Shut Down By Regulators, Succession Season 4, Episode 6 Review: In The Shadow Of Death, Meet Living+, Biden Should Release Delayed Offshore Leasing Plan If He Truly Wants More Oil Production, Retail Alert: Philippines May Talk Trade As President Marcos Arrives In The USA, SEVENTEEN Sell Over 4.5 Million Copies Of FML Album Worldwide For Record-Breaking Week In Korea, From K-Pop Idol to Independent Artist, Ryu Su Jeong Talks Intuition Leading Her On First Full-Length LP, Controversial Program Could Diminish NASAs Credibility And Its Federal Funding, Finding An NBA Home For Trayce Jackson-Davis, Special Needs Financial Planning: Smart Advice For Families Coping With Disabilities, Family Matters: The Best California Wines Come From Family-Owned Vineyards, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information, Limit the Use of My Sensitive Personal Information. Bill Magness, the ERCOT CEO who was voted out Wednesday night in the wake of last month's statewide power disaster, said late Thursday he will not accept the $800,000 golden parachute he was. Likewise, his net worth is contributed by the earnings he made from the ERCOT. During this hearing, he stated that he felt a lot of responsibility and insisted that his company had done everything we could to keep the company running smoothly., Your email address will not be published. Eric Gay/AP Magness told. Wed still be talking about how wed get the power on, he told lawmakers last week, adding that he would not act differently if he were in the same situation again. Magness died in 1996, but left his kids, Gary and Kim, his stake. In the 1970s he hired a smooth-talking executive named John Malone (today a cable TV billionaire). Greg Abbott has accused ERCOT of misleading the state about the readiness of the grid, placing blame for the outages almost singularly on the grid operators. That early out, NBC 5 Investigates learned, meant Magness could receive severance equal to his yearly salary which is more than$800,000. He will continue to serve as president and CEO for 60 days. And I think, again, if its just to look at anything differently, well discuss that as the after-action report and investigations are undertaken. hide caption. Then, hours later the spokesperson issued a statement saying Magness had, "informed the ERCOT Board of Directors that he will not seek or accept the severance pay". Over hours of testimony, Magness defended actions that he said kept the grid that serves most of Texas' 30 million residents intact. He will continue to serve as the organization's president and CEO during the transition period. The board that oversees The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, Inc. (ERCOT) held an urgent meeting Wednesday morning to discuss the winter storm that crippled most of Texas last week. In a hearing Thursday in Austin, ERCOT board member Lori Cobos said she objected to Magness' termination deal. However, he may be forced out of the company in the future due to a lack of interest. This meant he could've been fired at any time with or without cause. Support. Copyright 2023 NBCUniversal Media, LLC. I mean, we saw something here that, you know, outstrips any extreme scenario, said Magness. Bill Magness, the CEO and president of the Energy Reliability Council of Texas, or ERCOT, made the comments on Thursday in a hearing before the Texas State Senate Business and Commerce Committee. Thats a different field than climate science. Your email address will not be published. ERCOT CEO Bill Magness listens in as a spokeswoman reads reporter questions during a Feb. 17, 2021 virtual press conference. We got over the peak. Dan Patrick for her to quit. Forrest Wilder writes about politics and the outdoors. Bill Magness, the CEO and president of the Energy Reliability Council of Texas, or ERCOT, made the comments on Thursday in a hearing before the Texas State Senate Business and Commerce Committee. Theyre going to have to ultimately pick up those costs. What the Bleep Is Going On With Texas Property Taxes? At least six ERCOT board members have stepped down in the aftermath of the blackouts. I believe others should come forward in dignity and courage and acknowledge how their actions or inactions contributed to the situation, Ms. Walker said in her resignation letter, listing gas and electric companies and other state agencies that, she added, had responsibility to foresee what could have happened and failed to take the necessary steps.. Anyone can read what you share. He will continue to serve as president and CEO for 60 days. ERCOTs CEO, Bill Magness faced questions from his own board about why these power outages were so severe and why the agency was not able to predict such a devastating outcome before the storm hit. He built what became TCI by staying rural and using expensive, floating-rate bank debt. "It worked from keeping us (from) going into a blackout that we'd still be in today, that's why we did it," Magness said last Thursday. The control room at the Electric Reliability Council of Texas. Moreover, he has been criticized in the past for the organizations winter storm preparations. Leave them blank to get signed up. At 12:17 a.m. on February 15, ERCOT moved to a Level 1 Energy Emergency Alert and asked for power conservation. The chairwoman of the Public Utility Commission, DeAnn T. Walker, resigned in the aftermath of those hearings, saying that her agency was not the only one to blame. What the costs with the benefits are will inform that. Later in the afternoon however Magness released his contract which shows he's eligible for a severance of one full year of his annual salary. Whether that was all attributable to weatherization efforts, impossible to say. The Importance of Proper Installation for Hurricane Doors, Home Manager: 5 Essential Elements for Organizing Your Home, How to Choose the Perfect Garage Floor Options for Your Home, 5 Common Mistakes with Renovating Kitchens and How to Avoid Them, A Guide to the Different Types of Mattresses, Why Your Business Needs a Data Management Plan and How to Create One, From Injury to Recovery: How to Boost Your Health After a Car Crash, A Checklist of 8 Must-Have Qualities When Hiring a Lawyer, Top Reasons Why People Choose Elite Clothing Brands, Healthy Boundaries, Healthy Sexuality: Empowering Adolescents to Make Informed Choices, How to Spot Fake Tobacco Products: A Guide to Identifying Authentic Branded Products. Bill Magness salary was more than $876,000 in the year 2019. "During this transition period, Bill will continue to serve as President and CEO and work with state leaders and regulators on potential reforms to ERCOT," the organization said in a statement. One board member criticized Magness, saying he did not do enough to warn the board of the possibility of a crisis before the storm hit. ERCOT 10 years 9 months President & Chief Executive Officer Jan 2016 - May 20215 years 5 months President, CEO, and Board member of the electric system grid operator for 90% of Texas. ERCOT, which sets wholesale power prices, set the cost of electricity at the $9,000-a-megawatt-hour maximum, a normal step during an emergency. Bill Magness, the former president and CEO of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, was removed from his post Wednesday following last month's winter storm that resulted in days-long blackouts for more than 4 million Texans. Wind-turbine blades ice over for several days. It comes from the Texans after paying their electric bills. Mr. Magness has been in the utility business for 25 years, working with electric and telecommunications companies . But most of it is empirical. The storm that swept across much of Texas on Feb. 14, delivering ice, snow and some of the coldest weather recorded in the state, pushed the power grid to the brink of collapse. It wasnt a conversation like, Im your regulator and you have to do this. It was more sharing those best practices. Magness, the latest official to depart following the winter storm catastrophe, which affected millions of lives of Texans. As Malone later put it, "Magness had been fighting the alligators for a long while and he said he needed someone." Its been very difficult. Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. While most people tend to think of the Maldives as the epicenter of romance (and it certainly is that), it has so much more to offer. State officials, including Gov. Demand surged and supply plummeted as power facilities fell offline. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. We measure how we think were going to do, and do we have enough by what weve seen, or models of what we could see. I mean, thats a policy decision for the Legislature to make. Family passions and reputation stand behind the wines of California's wine families. The ERCOT CEO makes an income of $814,909, according to the website Non Profit Light. So, then, if the natural-gas plant is having trouble getting fuel, thats a problem. In Succession, live more forever with Living+. Was He Arrested? Copyright 2023 NBCUniversal Media, LLC. Greg Abbott and other lawmakers, assigned blame for the outages to ERCOT, but the grids failure has also animated critics of Texas embrace of deregulation, including its desire to have a power grid of its own. Magness' net worth has increased and decreased over time. There was no bloodshed. With the stroke of a pen, President Biden could change retail history when Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. visits the White House this week. IE 11 is not supported. The recently ousted CEO of the entity that maintains and operates much of Texas's electricity grid has told its board of directors he will not accept an $800,000 severance. TM: To what extent does ERCOT consider whether and how climate change might be intensifying the severity of storms, even in the winter, that affect the grid? If theres lessons learned from any of our neighboring power areas, its something well certainly look at and try to improve from. Now Comes The Recovery, And It Won't Be Cheap. There's a lot of other players in this process, both private and public, said Johnson. BM: The capacity market versus the energy market has been debated very actively, with those debates happening at the PUC [Public Utilities Commission] and at the Legislature. Texas Monthly talks to the ERCOT chief about why the blackouts happened and what needs to change now. In the 1970s he hired a smooth-talking executive named John Malone (today a cable TV billionaire). Furthermore, he was given a two-month termination notice by ERCOTs board of directors. Exclusive whiskey intel from one of the spirit industry's top annual tasting events. Copyright 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. 2021 The Associated Press. And its full of great reads, yall. And I just wanted to make that statement., As NBC 5 Investigates first reported, ERCOTs audio recordings show Magness spent less than one minute discussing the impending storm at the last board meeting just five days before the storm arrived. TM: Federal officials warned Texas following the winter 2011 blackouts that they should do more to require generators and gas producers to winterize their facilities. "The commission approves the policy, we implement it," Magness said. All rights reserved, who was voted out Wednesday night in the wake of last month's statewide power disaster, State Troopers Intensify Fake Inspection Crackdown As DPS Director Demands Technology to Stop Fraud, NBC 5 Investigates Wins 2023 Walter Cronkite Award for Streaming Series Against All Enemies', Dallas Retailer Tuesday Morning is Going Out of Business; Liquidation Sales Coming Soon, Chargers Make History by Drafting TCU Trio of Skill Position Players, This 28-Year-Old Ignored Warnings About Job-Hopping and Doubled Her Salary to $186K in 5 Years, Authorities Announce $80,000 Reward for Texas Mass Shooting Suspect, Bill Named After Athena Strand Would Change How Missing Children Alerts Are Issued. What did ERCOT do as a result of that recommendation? That meeting begins at 1 P.M. and can be viewed here. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. On Thursday afternoon and Friday morning, reporter Jeffrey Ball talked to Bill Magness, the president of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, ERCOT, the grid operator at the center of the Texas blackouts. Bill Magness Salary and Net Worth: How does money does he make? Bill Magness, President and CEO of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), testifies as the Committees on State Affairs and Energy Resources hold a joint public hearing to consider. Texas Attorney General Sues Griddy, Saying Electricity Provider Misled Customers, The Power Is Back On In Texas. You can disable footer widget area in theme options - footer options. The CEO, Bill Magness, makes more than $800,000 annually, according to ERCOT's 2018 tax form, the most recent filing available.5 mar 2021 Related Posts nad sylvan net worth Cobos heads the state's office of Public Utility Counsel, an agency that represents Texas' electric consumers. The board of directors for the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) issued Magness a 60-day termination notice at a meeting Wednesday night. ", Cutting Magness off, Whitmire asked, "But you wouldn't have changed anything in terms of your play calling during those critical hours?". Water systems were knocked out by the loss of power. Magness, who made more than $876,000 in salary and other compensation in 2019, was the target of much of the outrage over the blackouts that began Feb. 15 when a winter storm plunged temperatures into single digits across Texas, causing skyrocketing demand for electricity to heat homes. Kim died in 2003 but his children inherited his part of the fortune. She suggested Magness' severance might not be fair to consumers who will ultimately pay for that severance through the electric fees ERCOT collects. Its a question of cost-benefit. He recently testified to a state Senate panel on the organizations governance structure. Moreover, the total revenue of ERCOT is $244,963,920, and the total expenses os $209,134,689, which makes the net assets, $90,317,390. BM: As you reference, it is sort of similar. The hefty costs following the storm has already forced at least one power company to file for bankruptcy protection. UNL Sexual Assault Who Is Mac Helm Fiji? I feel as a board member, very frustrated that that did not occur, said board member, Jacqueline A. Sargent. Bill Magness salary was more than $876,000 in the year 2019. Americas +1 212 318 2000. TM: Texas doesnt require its power generators to have generating capacity ready to provide in an emergency. Bill Magness Salary and Net Worth: His Earnings Explored. Taylor Prewitt is the newsletter editor for Texas Monthly. #Breaking ERCOT CEO Bill Magness fired 2 weeks after Texas winter storm power failure pic.twitter.com/rgwAckIJoK, Natalie Hee FOX 26 (@NatalieHee) March 4, 2021. ERCOT's CEO, Bill Magness faced questions from his own board about why these power outages were so severe and why the agency was not able to predict such a devastating outcome before the. Texan Bob Magness became intrigued by cable TV and laid his first system in the state's panhandle region in 1956. BM: We certainly do forecasting, and we take into account what our forecasters believe makes sense, whether its from weather, from economics, and various factors when we do longer-term planning. Under the terms of his contract, Magness would have been entitled to more than $800,000 in severance pay, according to an employment contract provided by ERCOT. ERCOT held a virtual press conference on Feb. 17 as 2.7 million. Because of that, there was no heat for days in subfreezing temperatures. Should it? Magness hovered in the shadows--and hung onto a substantial stake in the company. Texan Bob Magness became intrigued by cable TV and laid his first system in the state's panhandle region in 1956. The state's top utility regulator resigned Monday. This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity. While this makes the CEOs name in the spotlight, he still has an impressive net worth and an impeccable reputation as an executive.