ERCOT Or Not: Does Texas Have The Worst Electric Grid In The US?

Our Texas electrical grid has gotten a lot of press over the last few years, and very little of the attention has been very positive. In 2021, Texas experienced power outages of a historical nature- the "Big Freeze" led to hypothermia deaths and carbon monoxide deaths from folks trying to stay warm with heaters that were not appropriate for indoor use. It was later concluded that "failure to winterize power sources, like wind turbines and natural gas infrastructure, had caused the grid failure."

That means we have the worst electrical grid ever, right? Actually, No. 

According to a reliability ranking, Texas places #38 among states. Certainly, that's nothing to be proud of, but hey- it could be worse!

Coming in with the most reliable electric grid is Nebraska, meaning they had the least, "number of minutes of power outages the average customer experiences." That's good, as Nebraska has an average snowfall of 20-40 inches and can experience brutally cold temperatures.

The worst state is West Virginia, perhaps ironic considering they have plenty of coal to burn. Having the absolute worst infrastructure brought them down to the bottom on grid reliability overall.

North, South, East, West- doesn't seem to matter. Region and political persuasion seemingly don't affect these rankings, Vermont came in at a dismal #49; whereas Florida came in at an impressive #5.

Should Texas do better? Yes. Especially when our Big Freeze was preventable. We all know the weather can be extreme, so here's hoping those in charge have learned the lesson.