The mother of an 11-year-old child who died last week as a result of hypothermia when they lost power in Texas is suing the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) and Entergy Corporation for gross negligence causing wrongful death. The lawsuit alleges the companies “put profits over the welfare of people.” The mother’s suit is for $100 million.
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Over 4 million Texas customers were left without heat and electricity as the historic blizzard swept through the state.
“Despite having knowledge of the dire weather forecast for at least a week in advance, and the knowledge that the system was not prepared for more than a decade, ERCOT and Entergy failed to take any preemptory action that could have averted the crisis and were wholly unprepared to deal with the crisis at hand,” the lawsuit claims, according to ABC.
Both ERCOT and Entergy responded to the lawsuit with separate statements.
“We are deeply saddened by the loss of life in our community,” wrote Entergy.
“We haven’t yet reviewed the lawsuits and will respond accordingly once we do. Our thoughts are with all Texans who have and are suffering due to this past week,” ERCOT said in its statement. “However, because approximately 46% of privately-owned generation tripped offline this past Monday morning, we are confident that our grid operators made the right choice to avoid a statewide blackout.”
[Via]