Beginning on February 13, 2021, something unprecedented happened
in the state of Texas—a winter storm caused temperatures to
dip well-below freezing. This event, dubbed
the "Black Swan Winter Event," caused Texas to
experience a catastrophic energy crisis. As demand for energy
soared, supply plummeted as power plants tripped offline and
natural gas supply lines froze. The storm raged on, and on
February 16, the Public Utility Commission of Texas
("PUCT"), which oversees the Electric Reliability Council
of Texas, Inc. ("ERCOT"), issued a directive to ERCOT (an
independent system operator that serves as a clearinghouse for
market transactions between electricity buyers and sellers
throughout the majority of Texas) instructing it to raise prices to
$9,000 per MWh. The previous three months' average was
between $21 and $29 per MWh.
