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Vistra to Install New Gas-Fired Units at Permian Basin Power Plant

LCG, September 30, 2025--Vistra Corp. announced yesterday that it will proceed with the next phase of its capital plan to support grid reliability in Texas. In 2024, Vistra identified over $1 billion worth of potential capital additions in generation capacity within the Texas ERCOT market by 2028 if market conditions were supportive. Now, with West Texas' growing power requirements, particularly the state's expanding oil and natural gas industries, Vistra reached a final investment decision and confirms it will build two new advanced natural gas-fired power units on-site at its Permian Basin Power Plant.

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ERCOT Announces New Grid Research, Innovation and Transformation (GRIT) Initiative

LCG, September 24, 2025--Electric Reliability Council of Texas Inc. (ERCOT) yesterday announced its new initiative to increase its efforts to fully use and apply innovation and transformation through industry collaboration to best overcome the challenges and opportunities facing future grid operations. The new Grid Research, Innovation, and Transformation (GRIT) initiative will advance research and prototyping of emerging concepts and solutions to better understand the implications of rapid grid and technology evolution and position ERCOT to lead in the future energy landscape.

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Industry News

City of Davis Considers Leaving PG&E for SMUD

LCG, February 4, 2003-City officials of Davis, California are thinking about changing the city's utility from Pacific Gas and Electric Company to the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD).

Davis, an agricultural city of roughly 65,000, is located 15 miles west of Sacramento and is home to the University of California, Davis, which adds an additional 25,000 in student population.

City officials plan to talk with SMUD directors about the possibility of obtaining service through SMUD, although Davis has received electricity from PG&E for over 100 years.

City officials will likely commission a study regarding a switch and its possible benefits in terms of reliability and retail electricity prices. According to John DiStasio, SMUD assistant general manager for customer service, a study will take between six and nine months.

Several cities in California have looked elsewhere for power services lately; San Francisco has seen increased interest in public power and several initiatives were put forth last year.

PG&E Co. filed for bankruptcy in 2001 after discrepancies between wholesale power prices and retail caps pushed the utility into the red. PG&E is currently in bankruptcy court, awaiting the approval or denial of its plan to divide its assets among four companies, three of which would fall outside of state regulation.

SMUD was created in 1923, but 11 years of fundraising and 12 years of litigation with PG&E over transmission line costs prevented it from becoming an operating utility district until 1946. SMUD is community-owned and delivers electricity to over 530,000 customers in Sacramento County as well as some of Placer County.

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