CECA Statement Regarding Brazos Electric Bankruptcy Filing
March 1, 2021
CECA Statement Regarding Brazos Electric Bankruptcy Filing
Comanche—Comanche Electric Cooperative Association’s (CECA) wholesale power supplier, Brazos Electric Power Cooperative, Inc. (Brazos), today filed a voluntary petition for relief under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas located in Houston, Texas. Brazos took this action to protect CECA, and its other 16 member cooperatives and their retail members from unaffordable electric bills stemming from astronomical wholesale electric market costs that occurred during last month’s bitterly cold weather event lasting from Feb. 13-19.
By filing for Chapter 11, Brazos is taking action to maintain the stability and integrity of its entire electric cooperative system and allow the cooperative to continue to provide reliable power and transmission service to its member cooperatives as it works through the bankruptcy process.
The organization “took this action because it determined that it cannot and will not foist this catastrophic financial event on its member cooperatives and their members.”, according to a statement released by Brazos at the time of the filing.
“Let me emphasize that this action by Brazos Electric was necessary to protect its Member cooperatives and their more than 1.5 million retail members from unaffordable electric bills as we continue to provide electric service throughout the court-supervised process,” said Clifton Karnei, Executive Vice President and General Manager of Brazos Electric. “We will prioritize what matters most to our Member cooperatives and their retail members as we, and they, work to return to normalcy. We expect this court-supervised process will provide us with the protections and mechanism to protect and preserve our assets and operations, and satisfy obligations to our creditors.”
CECA’s General Manager, Alan Lesley, commented, “CECA is very appreciative and supportive of the actions Brazos has taken to protect its member cooperatives (that includes the over 9,300 CECA members) from the ERCOT market prices that rose to $9,000/MWh during the recent weather event, and also required CECA members to cope with days of ERCOT mandated rotating outages. Let me stress that CECA members will continue to receive reliable electric service even as Brazos works through the Chapter 11 process.”
About Comanche Electric Cooperative Association:
Established in 1938 with its headquarters in Comanche, Texas, Comanche Electric Cooperative Association (CECA) is an electric distribution cooperative serving approximately 17,000 meters and more than 9,300 members. With close to 5,000 miles of energized line, CECA serves parts of Stephens, Shackelford, Eastland, Brown, Comanche, and Mills counties. For more information, visit www.ceca.coop.
About Brazos Electric Power Cooperative:
Brazos Electric Power Cooperative, Inc. (“Brazos Electric”) is a generation and transmission cooperative that provides wholesale power supply to its sixteen (16) Member-owner distribution cooperatives whose service territory extends across 68 Texas counties from the Texas Panhandle to Houston. Brazos Electric was organized in 1941 and was the first cooperative formed in the Lone Star State for the purpose of generating and supplying electric power to Member-owner cooperatives including Bartlett Electric Cooperative, Comanche Electric Cooperative Association, PenTex Energy, CoServ Electric, Fort Belknap Electric Cooperative, Hamilton County Electric Cooperative Association, Heart of Texas Electric Cooperative, HILCO Electric Cooperative, J-A-C Electric Cooperative, Mid-South Electric Cooperative, Navarro County Electric Cooperative, Navasota Valley Electric Cooperative, South Plains Electric Cooperative, Tri-County Electric Co-Op, United Cooperative Services, and Wise Electric Cooperative. For more information, visit www.brazoselectric.com.