The Brazos Electric Power Cooperative filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on March 1, 2021 after receiving a bill from ERCOT totaling $2.1 billion after ERCOT raised the price of wholesale electric power to $9,000 per megawatt hour during the February 2021 winter storm that hit Texas. //

Brazos Electric Power Cooperative Executive VP Clifton Karnei was a ERCOT board board member until Feb. 25; when the cooperative received a $2.1 billion bill from the manager of Texas’ power grid. //

Karnei was on the ERCOT board when the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued a report urging Texas’ power grid to winterize. The 357-page report detailed nine separate findings that showed exactly what happened inside ERCOT’s power grid that left millions without power for so long.

According to the FERCE report, the single largest problem during the cold weather event was the freezing of instrumentation and equipment.