Power companies, municipal utilities, and retail electricity providers were not the only one's impacted by the skyrocketing energy prices during Texas' February storms. Electricity customers who were signed up on variable rate plans also felt the unbearable financial weight of the disaster. Despite using regular or even decreased amounts of energy, some residential customers' bills shot up to $5,000 for the month of February. Many of these customers were not even aware that they were on variable rate plans in the first place, as with some providers, you have to actively choose to stay on fixed rates with every renewed contract; the default is to switch you to variable.
However, retail providers like Griddy, which offer these kinds of variable rate plans, blamed the Public Utility Commission of Texas for the unfair prices. During the storm, the PUC of Texas required that the Electric Reliability Council of Texas to allow energy prices to reflect the lack of supply. This produced a windfall for power suppliers who managed to maintain energy production, as the price soared up to 400 times the average for this time of year.
In the aftermath of the disaster, amidst the political fall out, all three of the Texas PUC Chairs have resigned, and Texas lawmakers have yet to decide how to handle the massive $47 billion price tag for the energy used in just 5 days.
Rebecca Hersher, "After Days Of Mass Outages, Some Texas Residents Now Face Huge Electricity Bills", contributed by James Adams, The Energy Rights Project, Platform for Experimental Collaborative Ethnography, last modified 5 April 2021, accessed 23 July 2024. https://energyrights.info/content/after-days-mass-outages-some-texas-residents-now-face-huge-electricity-bills
Critical Commentary
Power companies, municipal utilities, and retail electricity providers were not the only one's impacted by the skyrocketing energy prices during Texas' February storms. Electricity customers who were signed up on variable rate plans also felt the unbearable financial weight of the disaster. Despite using regular or even decreased amounts of energy, some residential customers' bills shot up to $5,000 for the month of February. Many of these customers were not even aware that they were on variable rate plans in the first place, as with some providers, you have to actively choose to stay on fixed rates with every renewed contract; the default is to switch you to variable.
However, retail providers like Griddy, which offer these kinds of variable rate plans, blamed the Public Utility Commission of Texas for the unfair prices. During the storm, the PUC of Texas required that the Electric Reliability Council of Texas to allow energy prices to reflect the lack of supply. This produced a windfall for power suppliers who managed to maintain energy production, as the price soared up to 400 times the average for this time of year.
In the aftermath of the disaster, amidst the political fall out, all three of the Texas PUC Chairs have resigned, and Texas lawmakers have yet to decide how to handle the massive $47 billion price tag for the energy used in just 5 days.