ERCOT has a highly competitive electricity market. This is unlike the SE US, where utilities can force customers to pay above market rates for nuclear output.

ERCOT has a highly competitive electricity market. This is unlike the SE US, where utilities can force customers to pay above market rates for nuclear output. Yes --- and therein lies the problem. There is a very good reason for "above market" rates. This is the only way utilities can afford to do proper maintenance and add reserve capacity and avoid perpetually operating on the verge of collapse --- unlike Texas where any utility attempting to spend resources on "reliability" is immediately priced out of the market. Some things are too important and essential to leave to the whims of the "free market" --- and the energy grid in Texas is the proof. It's ironic and telling that Texas government is now being literally forced to interfere and baby sit the "highly competitive electricity market" they created in order to keep the lights on. Corporations are being paid millions in tax payer money to shut down whenever the grid is about to collapse. It's takes a special kind of stupidity (ping Ted Cruz) to make this happen in a state overflowing with cheap energy of all kinds. https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/texas-bitcoin-miner-riot-31-million-energy-credits/ https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/texas-bitcoin-min...