Aren’t the generators already selling into a spot market that saw a multi thousand percent price increase in this demand peak, and are thus so incentivized? Providers AIUI are not responsible for any physical infrastructure, they’re selling volatility reduction by buying power from generators at spot and and sending it down publicly managed lines to customers for fixed rates.

I buy your point up thread that more responsive retail pricing would’ve reduce demand faster[1], but I think generators just failed to foresee the failure points of their systems and the potential severity of winter events despite significant incentives to do so.

Since the spot price hit its statutory cap, you might argue that the limit on potential windfall profits rendered winterization ROÍ negative - which might be true but if the only way to keep the lights on is to let the generators plan on pillaging a state in crisis, the state might want to step in to provide support beforehand.

[1] leaving aside the point the ‘reducing demand’, in this instance, means poor people are cold or worse.