A Texas Power Firm Files for Bankruptcy After Historic Outages

(Bloomberg) -- The largest power generation and transmission cooperative in Texas has filed for bankruptcy protection following historic outages amid a winter freeze last month.

Brazos Electric Power Cooperative has filed for Chapter 11 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas, according to a statement. It listed both estimated assets and liabilities of $1 billion to $10 billion.

The move comes after millions of Texas residents went without power for days last month, and the state’s broader market set a record for the most expensive week of power in U.S. history. That left many customers struggling to meet sky-high bills.

Fitch Ratings put all retail and wholesale electric utilities operating within the Electric Reliability Council of Texas on rating watch negative last month, citing concerns regarding funding requirements and liquidity in the near term.

Brazos Electric is the wholesale power supplier for 16 member-owner distribution cooperatives and one municipal system.

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