Texas co-op Brazos Electric files for bankruptcy over winter storm bills

Brazos Electric Power Cooperative Inc. on March 1 announced that it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy relief after receiving "excessively high invoices" from the Electric Reliability Council Of Texas Inc. which required payment within days.

According to a Reuters report, ERCOT has billed Brazos Electric $1.8 billion after the severe cold weather that caused historic blackouts in the state in February.

"As a cooperative whose costs are passed through to its members, and which are ultimately borne by Texas retail consumers served by its Member cooperatives, Brazos Electric determined that it cannot and will not foist this catastrophic financial event on its members and those consumers," the cooperative said in a company news release.

Brazos Electric is the oldest and largest generation and transmission power cooperative in the state, serving 16 distribution member cooperatives with a combined total of about 660,000 end-use customers.

On Feb. 24, Fitch Ratings placed all municipal utilities and electric cooperatives operating within ERCOT on Rating Watch Negative due to the uncertainty of the financial impact of the unprecedented winter weather.