Paul Graf
Spring Branch, TX
PEC Board Vice-President
Incumbent District 6 Director
Paul Graf serves as the District 6 Director and Vice-President for Pedernales Electric Cooperative (PEC). He was elected to the Board in 2015 and re-elected in 2018 and again in 2021. He had served in each of the officer’s position for at least 2 years each including the President for from June 2018 to June 2020. Paul has also served as chair of the Audit committee. Graf has remained consistently focused on achieving lower rates and improving reliability for Co-op members. He seeks your vote to continue working on your behalf.
Graf brings over five decades of electric industry knowledge and experience to PEC as an employee, executive, and consultant of utilities such as CPS Energy, Central and South West (CSW), American Electric Power (AEP) and PEC. This knowledge includes power system engineering, design, and operations; financial analysis; power contracting; distributed energy resource planning; rate making; and executive leadership recruitment and development.
Graf ran for the PEC Board nine years ago believing the electric rates were too high and desiring to serve as a Member watchdog on electric rates and wasteful/unnecessary spending. Over the past nine years he and his fellow board members have successfully fought to reduce electric rates 15 to 20% while seeking new sources of energy for the fastest growing electric cooperative in the United States. Only recently have new ERCOT rules and policies eroded a portion of the rate decreases.
Since joining the Board, Graf has been instrumental in returning approximately over $80 million to PEC members in extra revenue and capital credits.
"I will continue to work to keep pressure on rates. I take my fiduciary responsibility very seriously. PEC revenues belong to our members and will be conserved, and ultimately returned to members in the form of low-cost, safe energy, and capital credits. I am committed to ensuring PEC provides the low-cost electric service needed for the fast-growing economy of central Texas."
The Recent Texas Cold Weather Events
With five decades of experience in the electrical industry, Graf closely followed the events leading up to and during the recent cold weather events. He has been through four of these events during his working career. He clearly understood the electrical shortages were caused by ERCOT not having reliable generation available during the extreme cold. “When the Texas Legislature created a deregulated market for electric generation, they failed to create direct responsibility for ensuring power reserves needed in extreme weather conditions. ERCOT moved from focusing on electric power reliability to the economics of selling electric power. Texas cannot trade electric reliability for utility company profit. ERCOT and the Texas Legislature continue to look for the right formula to have adequate generation during extreme cold snaps. I don’t believe they have found it yet.”
Graf believes PEC must continue to strive to have more electrical independence and reliability so that what happened to our electric service in February does not happen again. This is especially true for transmission related outages. Fortunately, after much complaining, LCRA has agreed to rebuild the transmission line on both sides of the Antler substation after the problems during the recent two cold weather events. It should be completed by summer of 2024, so we have one more winter to endure before it is fully fixed.
Graf believes the Legislature, the PUC and ERCOT must make necessary changes such that ERCOT or its successor have access to more reliable generation. This includes:
No matter what the Texas Legislature does this year, I remain committed to doing what is best for PEC members.
Note that the linemen and front-line employees of PEC performed quite well under extreme adverse conditions during the cold weather events. All utilities are challenged with hiring additional much needed lineman. Graf will continue to fully support the efforts to hire these professionals.
Paul Graf is a native Texan and has lived in Spring Branch since 2004. He graduated from Texas A&I University in Kingsville with a BS degree in Electrical Engineering, Summa Cum Laude. He is a Registered Texas Professional Engineer. Graf and his wife Debi are high school sweethearts. They regularly attend the local Bible Church. They have two adult children. In his spare time, he still does consulting and enjoys hunting.
Incumbent District 6 Director
Paul Graf serves as the District 6 Director and Vice-President for Pedernales Electric Cooperative (PEC). He was elected to the Board in 2015 and re-elected in 2018 and again in 2021. He had served in each of the officer’s position for at least 2 years each including the President for from June 2018 to June 2020. Paul has also served as chair of the Audit committee. Graf has remained consistently focused on achieving lower rates and improving reliability for Co-op members. He seeks your vote to continue working on your behalf.
Graf brings over five decades of electric industry knowledge and experience to PEC as an employee, executive, and consultant of utilities such as CPS Energy, Central and South West (CSW), American Electric Power (AEP) and PEC. This knowledge includes power system engineering, design, and operations; financial analysis; power contracting; distributed energy resource planning; rate making; and executive leadership recruitment and development.
Graf ran for the PEC Board nine years ago believing the electric rates were too high and desiring to serve as a Member watchdog on electric rates and wasteful/unnecessary spending. Over the past nine years he and his fellow board members have successfully fought to reduce electric rates 15 to 20% while seeking new sources of energy for the fastest growing electric cooperative in the United States. Only recently have new ERCOT rules and policies eroded a portion of the rate decreases.
Since joining the Board, Graf has been instrumental in returning approximately over $80 million to PEC members in extra revenue and capital credits.
"I will continue to work to keep pressure on rates. I take my fiduciary responsibility very seriously. PEC revenues belong to our members and will be conserved, and ultimately returned to members in the form of low-cost, safe energy, and capital credits. I am committed to ensuring PEC provides the low-cost electric service needed for the fast-growing economy of central Texas."
The Recent Texas Cold Weather Events
With five decades of experience in the electrical industry, Graf closely followed the events leading up to and during the recent cold weather events. He has been through four of these events during his working career. He clearly understood the electrical shortages were caused by ERCOT not having reliable generation available during the extreme cold. “When the Texas Legislature created a deregulated market for electric generation, they failed to create direct responsibility for ensuring power reserves needed in extreme weather conditions. ERCOT moved from focusing on electric power reliability to the economics of selling electric power. Texas cannot trade electric reliability for utility company profit. ERCOT and the Texas Legislature continue to look for the right formula to have adequate generation during extreme cold snaps. I don’t believe they have found it yet.”
Graf believes PEC must continue to strive to have more electrical independence and reliability so that what happened to our electric service in February does not happen again. This is especially true for transmission related outages. Fortunately, after much complaining, LCRA has agreed to rebuild the transmission line on both sides of the Antler substation after the problems during the recent two cold weather events. It should be completed by summer of 2024, so we have one more winter to endure before it is fully fixed.
Graf believes the Legislature, the PUC and ERCOT must make necessary changes such that ERCOT or its successor have access to more reliable generation. This includes:
- Ensuring more of the existing fossil fuel generation is available during extreme weather, especially those burning clean Texas natural gas.
- Restoring standards that were apparently eliminated, making sure alternative fuel supplies are available at the gas power plants, installing oil tanks for fuel oil to be available as an alternate fuel during extreme weather events.
- Create a capacity policy in Texas whereby someone MUST be responsible for building additional, reliable electric generation.
No matter what the Texas Legislature does this year, I remain committed to doing what is best for PEC members.
Note that the linemen and front-line employees of PEC performed quite well under extreme adverse conditions during the cold weather events. All utilities are challenged with hiring additional much needed lineman. Graf will continue to fully support the efforts to hire these professionals.
Paul Graf is a native Texan and has lived in Spring Branch since 2004. He graduated from Texas A&I University in Kingsville with a BS degree in Electrical Engineering, Summa Cum Laude. He is a Registered Texas Professional Engineer. Graf and his wife Debi are high school sweethearts. They regularly attend the local Bible Church. They have two adult children. In his spare time, he still does consulting and enjoys hunting.