City of Lubbock’s Move Towards ERCOT and the Concerns it Raises

Wednesday on KFYO Mornings with Dave King and Matt Martin, Lubbock City Councilman Jeff Griffith joined Matt Martin and Steve Evans to talk about the controversies with ERCOT, COVID-19 in Lubbock, vaccinations, audits, local businesses getting loans, and more.

Most Texans have been quite concerned with the electricity shortages caused by the winter storm and problems at the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, or ERCOT, and so Councilman Griffith discussed several points surrounding the issue. He started by saying that the city council has had a meeting to talk about ERCOT, as well as another meeting on Monday to talk about LP&L. Griffith stated that this problem is the top issue on the minds of everyone in Texas, as we need reliability to be #1. He applauded state leadership who have come out to try to get corrective measures under way, and said that he is very proud of how various city departments came together to make sure that Lubbock had water, power, and better street conditions compared to nearby cities, who Lubbock has since sent help to.

Focusing on ERCOT, many Texans are concerned about the move for Lubbock to join the system, including many callers and texters on the KFYO Morning show. Jeff was asked if there is any chance that Lubbock's move to ERCOT can be paused, or if its already a done deal. Griffith said that it is close to a done deal, however, if nothing gets done from an improvement standpoint, then its possible that they could try and take a step back. But currently, the move is still planned to continue as normal, with 70% of the city planned to be on an ERCOT system provided by LP&L, and the other 30% still on SPT. Griffith said that they've known that Lubbock has wanted choice for a while, and so he hopes this will be more of an evolution of power in Lubbock, instead of a revolution.

Griffith also discussed last night's city council meeting, where the changing of city charter has been discussed over the past few weeks. The Lubbock City Council appointed a new Charter Review Committee last night to try and tackle some of these issues. Griffith hopes that the group of 7 will be on target, and he is excited for them to start analyzing the cities needs. He does not expect there to be any sort of vote ready for the May election, but says that it is likely to be ready by the November election.

Finally, The Councilman was asked about the state of Covid-19 in Lubbock. Griffith says things are going very well, and that it seems like the combination of people getting vaccinated, with Lubbock now having about 17% of its population vaccinated, as well as the many who have already had the virus, is helping to bring the number of new cases down. He thanks those who have already gotten their doses, and encourages everyone else to do so as well. The number to call to get an appointment is 775-2933.

Watch the full interview with Jeff Griffith in the video above.

KFYO Mornings with Dave King & Matt Martin airs weekday mornings live, from 6:00 AM to 8:30 AM on News/Talk 95.1 FM and 790 AM KFYO, online at KFYO.com, & on the free KFYO app.