Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick urges ERCOT to change the board members' 30 % pay raise.

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Board members approved a 30 % pay raise for themselves on the same day that the board of directors of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas approved a nearly twice of its CEO’s salary, according to recently revealed information about the raises.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick is now asking the ERCOT panel to reverse the raises.

In a statement released on Thursday, Patrick, who assists in appointing ERCOT committee members, wrote in a statement that “my recommendation to them is to change their own boost.” I’m sure there are plenty of public-service thinking Texans who are willing to take their place if they do not want to offer.

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Patrick’s rebuke is yet another common outburst expressing his disapproval of the club’s decisions to boost salaries for major officials at ERCOT, which manages the state’s power grid, as electricity costs have skyrocketed for Texans. After the committee had approved and therefore backtracked on increasing CEO Pablo Vegas ‘ income on Tuesday, he claimed on Wednesday that he had lost faith in the management of board chair Bill Flores.

Board members also approved a raise for themselves that would result in an average annual pay of$ 219, 375, a 30 % increase from the previous average of$ 169, 375, as reported by board documents at the same meeting to vote on Vegas ‘ contract. Electricity customers, who have seen a 40 % average increase in their electricity bills since 2020, are indirectly funding ERCOT.

According to a board presentation, the raises, which take effect on October 1, amount to a$ 50, 000 annual increase for each of the eight selected members of the board, which meet four times a year and have responsibilities such as establishing organization policies and hiring the CEO, and an additional$ 5, 000 raise for Flores. According to the club’s policies and procedures, Torres, a former congressman for Texas, receives an extra$ 35, 000 each year in his role as chairman. The board’s managers already receive$ 160, 000 in monthly payment. Currently, Flores is making$ 250, 000 annually.

According to a pay study conducted by an independent compensation consulting firm hired by ERCOT, board members of other nonprofit grid operators make an average of$ 150, 889.

The club’s consulting firm, Meridian Compensation Partners LLC, defended the raises as necessary to retain best board director expertise in a meeting on Monday while competing with another separate grid operators and the private sector. Managers are required to be affiliated with an ERCOT business, which makes it difficult for the board to find and keep directors, according to the consultants.

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You can’t sit on both board, according to the specialist,” If an affiliated company were to come knocking.” According to the statement,” There are still many affiliated companies, which means there are real executives lost.”

On Thursday, ERCOT did not respond to a request for comment.

ERCOT is a nonprofit organization that is primarily funded by a$ 0.61 per megawatt-hour administration fee, which retail electric companies and municipal utilities pay instantly and are typically paid on to their customers. According to its annual budget for 2026-2027, ERCOT anticipates making close to$ 486 million in revenue in 2026.

A committee of three persons chosen by the government, the lieutenant governor, and the House Speaker elects board members. Officials who are running in November’s votes, including Patrick, have focused a lot of their campaigns on lowering rising prices, including electricity.

In a speech released on Thursday, Flores and the ERCOT committee was instructed by the Texas Consumer Association, which supports lowering consumer prices.

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ERCOT may do much, according to TCA President Sandie Haverlah,” a quasi-public entity that is ultimately funded by fees eventually paid by consumers.” It’s irresponsible to give executives and board members six- and seven-figure increases during a time of economic stress when a majority of Texans believe our state is headed in the wrong direction.

Conflicts have been rising since Tuesday.

The discussion broke out late on Tuesday when The Texas Tribune reported that the board of ERCOT approved a lease for Pablo Vegas, the organization’s president and CEO, that could allow him to make up to$ 6.4 million next year. In response to the article in The Tribune, Patrick claimed that he had called both Flores and Thomas Gleeson, the president of the Public Utility Commission, and that he had told them to change Vegas ‘ increase and contract extension.

Vegas claimed in an interview with The Tribune that day that no official vote had been held to revoke the contract’s board’s acceptance. Instead, following the vote and Patrick’s action, ERCOT and Vegas had not yet signed the new lease.

On social media, Patrick wrote that he had lost” full confidence and trust in ERCOT Board Chair Flores to look out for Texas payers and be the Chair of the ERCOT table.”

In response to a Houston Chronicle content about the controversy, Patrick claimed Flores had repeatedly changed his story regarding the status of the deal’s approval and his earlier conversations with Patrick’s office regarding the contract, which had caused the lieutenant governor to gain confidence.

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The board’s voting on Tuesday to also improve their own pay was originally undetected. Before an professional session was held, the vote was taken at the close of the ordinary gathering. Flores abstained from the ballot because it had a direct effect on his spend, but the measure was unanimously approved by the board members.

The lieutenant governor said Patrick also instructed Gleeson and Flores to change the board member’s pay raise in his telephone call on Tuesday with them.

I made it abundantly clear to both the PUC Chairman and the ERCOT Board Chairman Bill Flores on Tuesday that neither the multi-million-dollar increase for ERCOT CEO Pablo Vegas nor the committee member raise were satisfactory to me, Patrick wrote. I warned the two chairs that passing either raise had tarnish both the PUC and ERCOT’s standing with the general public, my fellow legislators, and the legislature’s members.

Recruits to keep panel talent

Seven of the eight open positions on the table are already filled, and a last member is being sought. Ex officio board members of the Office of Public Utility Counsel, two PUC commission, and two other ERCOT CEOs are not paid for their positions.

According to records presented at ERCOT Human Resources and Governance Committee on Monday, the newly increased earn comes from a$ 150, 000 “retention prize” for each table director that is distributed at the conclusion of their three-year terms. A producer elected in January 2025 will get$ 62, 500 in January 2028 as a nonrefundable award for recent board members based on how far they are in their current term.

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According to board documents, Flores ‘ annual “board chair retainer” pay was increased from$ 35, 000 to$ 40, 000 in the same measure.

Additionally, board vice chair receives a$ 15, 000 retainer each year while board committee chairs receive a$ 25, 000 retainer each year. By Tuesday’s vote, those amounts had not been raised.

According to the board’s consultants, the board’s consultants also discovered that the board chair retainer had “fallen below what we typically target.”

Because the pay increases are not retroactive, board director Julie England, who also serves on TTM Technologies ‘ board of directors, said she did not think the increases would help them keep board directors in place.

” It’s all prorated going forward,” England said. ” I thought it intended to retain the 5-year experienced directors, but there is no look-back.”

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Flores responded that due to the optics of a measure like this, the board had chosen not to allow the board’s directors to receive retroactive pay raises.

The issue is,” Is it appropriate to pass something that kind of a retroactive compensation pay for a director,” Flores said.

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Sep 17, 2026Hill Country Post

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick urges ERCOT to change the board members’ 30 % pay raise.

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