The ERCOT board authorized Mr. Jones’ interim appointment during an April 27 emergency board meeting.
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The former head of the New York power grid has been appointed to lead ERCOT on an interim basis.
Brad Jones, who worked previously at ERCOT, will replace outgoing CEO Bill Magness. The ERCOT board authorized Mr. Jones’ interim appointment during an April 27 emergency board meeting. He will take the reins May 4 and serve as interim president until ERCOT fills the position permanently.
Mr. Jones is a long-time veteran in the field. In addition to serving as the former president of the New York Independent System Operator, he served as ERCOT’s vice president and chief operations officer between 2013 and 2015. He has held executive positions at TXU Energy and Luminant, and has served as past chairman of the Edison Electric Institute’s Executive Advisory Committee and as a board member of the Gulf Coast Power Association.
The February outages and the resulting political fallout also prompted resignations by all three Texas Public Utility Commissioners. Gov. Greg Abbott so far has selected two of their replacements: former Texas Water Development Board chair Peter Lake, and former president of the Associated Builders and Contractors of Texas Will McAdams.
In response to the outages, state lawmakers likewise are considering a number of PUC and ERCOT reform bills.
Is a policy analyst consultant for TCAP, a coalition of political subdivisions in Texas that purchase electricity in the deregulated market for their own governmental use. Because energy costs are typically a significant budget item to our members, TCAP is consistently looking for ways to save our members money, through cost-saving contracts, energy efficiency or demand response programs.