Energy Transfer to supply gas to Texas power plants in Feb freeze dispute

Jan 20 (Reuters) - Energy Transfer LP said this week it would continue providing natural gas to Vistra Corp's power plants in Texas, after Vistra complained to state regulators that Energy Transfer threatened to stop supplying fuel in a dispute over charges from last February's freeze.

The filings from Vistra's Luminant and Dynegy subsidiaries came as a cold snap on Thursday in West Texas froze gas wells and reduced output, reminding the state of last winter's energy emergencies.

Last February's Winter Storm Uri killed more than 200 people, caused power and gas prices to spike to record highs in many parts of the country and left around 4.5 million Texas homes and businesses without power and heat - in many cases for days.

Energy Transfer and its Oasis Pipeline subsidiary said in their filing with the Texas Railroad Commission (RRC), which regulates the state's gas industry, that Energy Transfer will keep providing service to Luminant and Dynegy so they can "serve customers and maintain reliability on the electric grid, particularly for the cold weather."

Officials at Energy Transfer said they would continue to sell Vistra gas under the same process in place since Dec. 1.

Officials at Vistra said they had no additional comment other than what was in their filings.

In its filings, Vistra said Energy Transfer threatened to terminate gas service to Luminant's power plants as of Jan. 24.

Those power plants provide about 2,000 megawatts of electricity, serving about 400,000 Texas customers.

Vistra said Luminant spent about $1.5 billion for gas during Winter Storm Uri, twice its planned gas cost to fuel its entire Texas fleet for a year.

Vistra said Luminant paid Energy Transfer more than $600 million for gas during the February freeze, but refused to pay $21.6 million that Energy Transfer charged for Operational Flow Order penalties for over-supplying gas.

(Reporting by Scott DiSavino; Editing by David Gregorio)