October 8, 2024
AUSTIN – Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick today issued the following statement following the Texas Energy Fund Advisory Committee hearing.
“The fact that Texas needs to add more distributable power to the grid as our economy grows is clear to all. The establishment of the fund was overwhelmingly approved.
“Deloitte, the contractor hired to manage the Texas Energy Fund, allowed falsified applications to proceed through the process. When asked at today’s hearing, Deloitte said that during the scrutiny process, They failed to provide any believable explanations for the many troubling details that their senior partners could have uncovered with a simple Google search. I didn’t even know the value of the state contract.
“Deloitte’s failure to expose the fraudulent application filed by Aigle Power, whose CEO was previously convicted of embezzlement, is outrageous, and this unexamined application by the Public Utilities Commission of Texas (PUC) is outrageous. The progress of the project is extremely worrying.
“The PUC is seeking at least 10% of the contract value with Deloitte to compensate for their failures that have undermined the Texas Energy Fund’s ability to assist in delivering more megawatts of deliverable power in a timely manner. Because taxpayers must be protected, Congress will also review the state’s other existing contracts with Deloitte.
“It is of utmost importance to the PUC to quickly replace the 1,200 megawatt gap left by Aegle Power’s fraudulent application with a fully qualified project, and it is critical that no funds other than the loan closing bonus be withheld. Our power grid needs more distributable power as quickly as possible, and the Texas Energy Fund’s financing program is the fastest way to get more distributable megawatts online. They just delayed the program. They need to correct their mistakes now or they’re gone.”
Category: News
Source link
