The former chair of the Public Utility Commission (PUC), DeAnn Walker, who resigned after the blackouts created by the winter storm in Texas last February, testified in court about getting the power back on and the high energy prices energy companies faced. 

She stated that Texas Gov. Greg Abbott told her to go back to the control room to make sure things got back on schedule.

A state game warden took her to the facility with the goal of preventing rolling outages. 

"He told me to go out to the Taylor facility and to figure out a way to get the power back on to all the customers and to not go back into rolling outages," Walker said in federal bankruptcy court in Houston.

A spokesman for Gov. Abbott, Mark Miner, also commented. 

"As Texans would expect, Gov. Abbott instructed everyone involved that they must do what was needed to keep the power on and to prevent the loss of life,” Miner said in an email from Feb. 23. “This is the same instruction Gov. Abbott gave to the PUC and ERCOT (during a cold snap) earlier this year: Do what needs to be done to keep the power on.”

Carrie Bivens, the director of ERCOT’s Independent Market Monito, commented more critically. 

“This decision resulted in $16 billion in additional costs to ERCOT's market,” Bivens said.

Beto O'Rourke was even more candid in his criticism of Abbott.

"Abbott screwed us, and he’ll continue to screw us until we vote him out," O’Rourke said.

Walker explained why she did not call a meeting to discuss the prices. 

"That was an independent decision I made," she said. "It wasn't something as a commission we discussed."

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge David Jones was displeased by Walker's testimony. 

"I see no purpose in simply highlighting the areas of your unreliability," Judge Jones said. "I am disappointed in your conduct and your lack of candor this morning."

During the incident, prices climbed as high as $9,000 per megawatt hour.