Photo: Mark Felix/Bloomberg
Tesla has become licensed to provide retail electrical services in Texas through Tesla Energy Ventures. The company aspires to become the state's electricity supplier out of a desire to improve the overall state of affairs in the state's energy market, which deteriorated following a winter storm in February 2021.
Tesla demonstrated its intention to sell electricity directly to consumers in Texas by filing an application with the Texas Public Utility Commission in August. At the end of last week, the state issued a permit, according to Gizmodo. The commission wrote that Tesla Energy Ventures is now licensed to “provide retail electric services throughout the area served by ERCOT,” which is basically all of Texas.
In February, winter storms hit Texas and left millions of people without electricity for several days. Tesla CEO Elon Musk was one of those impacted, as he and his family were there. Also, the construction of Giga Texas was stopped for several days. The company became one of those who helped the local population by donating and delivering food and essentials. All of this likely prompted the company to help the state bolster its energy market. At the moment, there are no details regarding Tesla's alleged activities there, but the company has experience in this area.
“Usually an electricity service provider that doesn't have generation on the ground essentially acts as a middleman, they buy on the wholesale market and turn around and sell to customers,” Ted Kury, director of energy studies for the Public Utility Research Center at the University of Florida, told UtilityDive at the time of the Tesla filing. “Tesla would have the ability to act as a buyer and seller simultaneously and have access to a lot of data. Regulators are going to have to think about what the implications might be."
© 2021, Eva Fox | Tesmanian. All rights reserved.
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About the Author
Eva Fox
Eva Fox joined Tesmanian in 2019 to cover breaking news as an automotive journalist. The main topics that she covers are clean energy and electric vehicles. As a journalist, Eva is specialized in Tesla and topics related to the work and development of the company.
