2022 Azbee Awards of Excellence

Category

Online > Online Single Topic Coverage by a Team > Mid Atlantic

Awarded to

Justin Horwath, reporter; Nephele Kirong, assistant editor; Markham Watson, senior editor, Platts; Garrett Hering, senior reporter

Entry details

Texas winter freeze

Issue or publication date: Feb. 15; Feb. 17; Feb. 25; March 12; March 24, 2021
Publication name: S&P Global Market Intelligence
Publishing/parent company: S&P Global Inc.
Website home page: https://www.spglobal.com/marketintelligence/en/news-insights/latest-news-headlines/

About the publication's mission and readership:

https://www.spglobal.com/marketintelligence/en/about/

Description of the enterprising work that went into this entry and its significance or impact on readers:

The scale and ramifications of the February winter storm in Texas were staggering. Millions of customers were without power as nearly 50% of generation capacity went offline. One municipal utility accused natural gas suppliers of price gouging, citing a 15,000% increase.

S&P Global Market Intelligence reporters and data journalists provided news and context for our audience in the energy finance sector, who followed with particular interest, considering how much private and public capital is invested in the Electric Reliability Council Of Texas grid. As details emerged, it became clear that utilities and power plants took on an unacceptable amount of risk; state senators learned that ERCOT market participants had no enforceable weatherization standards.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick implored the Public Utility Commission of Texas to fix what he called a "$16 billion error" in real-time pricing that occurred during the storm. The aftermath of the storm was the energy story of the year, and our staff covered it with top-notch reporting, extensive data and compelling visuals.

Links to entry URLs

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Entry URL(s), if applicable:
https://www.spglobal.com/marketintelligence/en/news-insights/latest-news-headlines/brutal-cold-forces-generation-outages-across-us-62670307
https://www.spglobal.com/marketintelligence/en/news-insights/latest-news-headlines/ercot-officials-scramble-to-restore-power-avoid-cascading-blackout-62698278
https://www.spglobal.com/marketintelligence/en/news-insights/latest-news-headlines/texas-lawmakers-grill-officials-regulators-over-winter-storm-train-wreck-62874565
https://www.spglobal.com/marketintelligence/en/news-insights/latest-news-headlines/texas-split-over-repricing-16-billion-error-in-wake-of-storm-63134729
https://www.spglobal.com/marketintelligence/en/news-insights/latest-news-headlines/chartwatch-companies-turn-to-debt-markets-courts-to-address-texas-freeze-costs-63324676

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