Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said Tuesday that the Legislature will review all of the state’s existing contracts with the firm Deloitte after it selected a company whose CEO was previously convicted of an “embezzlement scheme” as a project finalist for a low-interest, taxpayer-funded loan program to build new power plants in Texas.
Last year, the state tapped Deloitte to administer the Texas Energy Fund, a $5 billion voter-approved fund to provide 3% interest loans to build or upgrade gas-fueled power plants. State lawmakers got the idea for the fund after Winter Storm Uri overwhelmed the state power grid in 2021, prompting blackouts that left millions of Texans without electricity or heat for days in freezing temperatures. When the company and the state’s Public Utility Commission announced the list of 17 finalists in late August, they included a project from Aegle Power, whose CEO Kathleen Smith was convicted in 2017 in what the U.
S. Justice Department called an “ embezzlement scheme .” Aegle Power also included the name of another company, NextEra, which told the PUC it was included on the application without its knowledge or consent .
Patrick’s announcement of the review came after representatives from Deloitte were peppered with questions at a joint legislative hearing Tuesday about how these details were not uncovered in the vetting process. Smith previously told the Houston Chronicle there was “absolutely never any embezzlement.” “When questioned at today�.
