Posted on by Cynthia Merla Spielman

Letter to Mayor from Neighborhood Resident

February 20, 2021

Dear Mayor,

CPS has a presentation on their website wherein they reveal their growth strategies through 2021 and beyond. After studying that presentation, it is clear that a substantial portion of their strategy for managing growth of demand is “Demand Response”, which on the last page is revealed to be a code word for “curtailment”, which is another code word for blackouts. You can study the presentation yourself, it’s at…..https://www.cpsenergy.com/content/dam/corporate/en/Documents/Trustees/BOT-Presentations/2019-03-25%20-%20Generation%20Update.PDF

In an interview with KTSA on February 15th, CPS Energy President and CEO Paula Gold-Williams said she is “absolutely sorry.” I guess she goofed or made a small mistake somewhere. That interview can be found on the web at, https://www.ktsa.com/cps-energy-on-rotating-outages-were-absolutely-sorry-that-this-is-happening/

In the interview, Gold-Williams reveals that CPS Energy has the “electrical capacity of 7,000 megawatts” of power and she further reveals that the current freeze has raised demand to “around 5,000 to 5,400 megawatts”. That’s really good news. San Antonio does not have to draw on the Texas grid to supply ALL of the demand for electricity in the CPS Energy service area. Except, they made a small error which she explains, “we actually had thought that the cold weather was behind us”.

That error has caused deaths. Pets and people have died of exposure, which is polite speak for “froze to death”. That error has caused MILLIONS of dollars of property damage. That was one hell of an error.

How does a person keep their job when they make that kind of mistake? In fact, how do they stay out of prison when they fail so spectacularly? How can I get a cushy job like that?

SAN ANTONIO WAS CAPABLE OF MEETING ITS OWN NEEDS DURING THIS TEXAS FREEZE EXCEPT THAT THE PEOPLE THAT WE HIRED TO DO THE PLANNING FOR OUR ELECTRICAL SYSTEM GOOFED UP. How is that not criminal?

The following are possible actions that the City might take to make sure this crises does not happen again:

  1. Terminate the top 5 executives at CPS Energy TODAY. Also terminate the Chairman of the Board of Directors TODAY.
  2. Form an investigative group made up as follows and require them to grill every executive, board member and department manager at CPS energy to determine why and how CPS energy failed to provide for it’s customer’s needs:
    1. 5 City Council Members
    2. 5 Citizens at large, preferably neighborhood leaders.
    3. 5 SAPD Officers or Fire Fighters
    4. 5 Middle managers in the CPS System
  3. Change the Mission Statement of CPS Energy to include the following, “Demand Response or blackouts are not any part of a solution to San Antonio’s energy demand growth. CPS Energy’s primary duty is to plan for, prepare for and provide for the Electrical Demand of CPS Energy’s consumers”
  4. Clearly post on the CPS Energy home web page a graph that shows the real time Capacity and Demand (without DR, Curtailments or blackouts) on a 24 hour timeline.
  5. Require CPS energy to finance repairs for it’s consumer’s properties for damage they claim was caused by CPS’s failure to provide Electrical service, at a interest rate of 0% with a repayment term of not less than 10 years.

Mayor, you have been presented with the opportunity to show leadership and to step up and deal with a crisis and you will be judged by how you manage the current San Antonio Freeze crisis. Please take decisive action quickly.

Respectfully,

Everette Ives

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