Folding to the many calls for the ouster of its power grid manager, Texas has fired the official following the deadly blackouts in February, which left millions of people without heat and electricity amid the subfreezing temperatures for several days.
The CEO of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, Bill Magness, is only the second senior official to leave in the aftermath of U.S. history's worst blackout. He was fired just a couple of days after the state's top utility regulator resigned on Monday.
On Wednesday night, during ERCOT's board meeting, Magness received his two-month termination notice.
In its statement, ERCOT said that during the two-month transition period, Magness would continue his duties as the President and CEO of ERCOT. He will also continue to work with state regulators and leaders on potential reforms to the council, NPR reported.
Magness was the recipient of the public's outrage following the blackouts that started in mid-February amid Winter Storm Uri. The Winter Storm caused Texas's temperature to drop to single digits resulting in the sudden rise in demand for electricity in homes.
The power grid manager's ouster resulted from the people's demands after grid operators cut off the electricity for more than 4 million customers when the system buckled. Magness stated that unplugging the customers was necessary to prevent a more catastrophic blackout that would leave the state in blackout for months.
However, millions of people whose powers were cut off did not flip back on for days, and the prolonged lack of electricity escalated to tragic proportions of crisis. There were several deaths due to carbon monoxide poisoning that resulted from people trying to keep warm, while others froze to their deaths.
The blackouts and the winter storm have caused at least 40 deaths in Texas, based on the current data. However, it was noted that the full death toll might not be available for months.
Last week, before the ouster of its power grid manager, Texas lawmakers began the probe on Magness's handling of the storm and the lack of power at the Texas capitol. In his testimony, Magness stated that he kept the grid that serves most of the 30 million residents with power.
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Magness stated that his actions kept the state from going into a blackout that would have still been happening to this day if it was not prevented. He also defended that despite it not working for people's lives, it worked to preserve the system's integrity, Houston Public Media reported.
Moreover, during the investigation, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott called out ERCOT and stated that it misled the state regarding the grid's readiness and that it placed the blame on grid operators singularly.
The commission's chairwoman DeAnn Walker also resigned after convening with the lawmakers in two lengthy sessions. He also said that there are also others who should take responsibility for the outages, CNBC reported.
Aside from its power grid manager's ouster, the blackouts' aftermath has also caused at least six board members of ERCOT to step down.
