The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) operates the electric grid and manages the deregulated market for the Texas Interconnection, which is the bulk electric system providing power to 75% of the geographic area and 90% of the electric load in the state of Texas. ERCOT is a membership-based 501(c)(4) nonprofit corporation, governed by a board of directors and subject to oversight by the Public Utility Commission of Texas and the Texas Legislature. Its members include consumers, cooperatives, generators, power marketers, retail electric providers, investor-owned electric utilities, transmission, and distribution providers, and municipally owned electric utilities. Unlike other Independent System Operators (ISOs) in the U.S., its rates and services are not regulated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) although it is subject to North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) rules on reliability and security.
ERCOT manages the flow of electricity across the high-voltage, long-distance power lines in the Texas Interconnection. Its responsibilities include:
- Maintaining system reliability
- Facilitating a competitive wholesale market
- Administering the competitive retail market including management of billing data
- Ensuring open access to transmission
- Performing transmission planning
The wholesale markets facilitated by ERCOT are energy only, meaning there is no capacity market.