ERCOT overcharged $3B, not $16B like originally stated, report finds

ERCOT overcharged companies by at least $3 billion for power during the height of February's winter storm, down from the previously stated $16 billion, but the overcharges should still be reversed, according to a report released Thursday from ERCOT's independent auditing firm.

In a letter to ERCOT from Potomac Economics, advisors still stated that energy was overpriced by $16 billion, but not all of those costs were directly settled by ERCOT, thus the change.

RELATED: Gov. Abbott names ERCOT $16 billion billing error correction as legislative emergency item

Companies who generate power profit from the market by selling available electricity at a much higher price as an incentive to other power companies to produce more power to meet demand.

Earlier this week, commissioners on the Public Utility Commission decided not to reverse the charges, citing too much uncertainty.

ERCOT should've ended emergency pricing that saw the price for energy increase 300 times over from a normal day, but it didn't do so, according to the report.

SEE ALSO: Harris County attorneys file resistance to ERCOT's 'sovereign immunity' claim

Texas' power grid operator still claims sovereign immunity after the failures during the winter storm. But a new legal move in the Houston area aims to punch holes through that argument.