Posted on 02/19/2021 3:04:21 PM PST by USA Conservative
Texas has been at the mercy of an unprecedented winter storm, which has left many of the state’s residents without heat, power and potable water for several days. Several people, some homeless, have died in the freezing temperatures.
As Texans withstand widespread power outages and freezing temperatures this week, many are asking the same question: How much am I going to be charged for the electricity I do receive?
The complex answer, according to experts in the Texas power industry, depends on whether residential customers signed long-term contracts with their providers or decided to take their chances paying wholesale market prices overseen by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), the nonprofit charged with managing the state’s electrical grid and its “energy-only” market.
As WFAA reported, electricity supply and demand in Texas has really stabilized now. But when it was grossly out of whack over the past several days, the cost of power in the wholesale market went crazy. It went from about $50 per Megawatt to $9,000. That didn’t affect retail many customers because they were on a fixed-rate plan. But if you were on a variable or indexed plan, your rate — and therefore, your electric bill — may have skyrocketed. One customer messaged us:
“Mine is over $1,000…not sure how…700 square foot apt I have been keeping at 60 degrees.”
Another couple tweeted at us:
“Using as little as possible 1300 sq. ft. house and this is my bill. How is this fair. I only paid $1200 for the whole 2020.”
WFAA spoke with Griddy customer Ty Williams who says bill nearly tripled from $600 last month to nearly $17,000 so far this month. Williams pays for service to his home, guest house and office.
He asked, incredulously, “How can anyone pay that?”
Griddy was among electric retailers who offer low rates based on daily wholesale prices, which recent days spiked from $50 per megawatt hour to over $9000.
Griddy in recent days had actually urged and tried to help all of its 29,000 customers switch service to avoid sky-rocketing costs.
Williams says that he tried several times and was finally picked up by Reliant Energy.
As to how his nearly $17,000 bill will be handled, remains to be seen.
Defenders of green energy and fossil fuels are pointing fingers at each other for the failures that led to dangerous blackouts in Texas — but could both sides be missing the bigger picture? How big a role did regulations sent from the desk of some faraway bureaucrat play in this catastrophic failure?
They had the capacity to ramp up power generation but needed a the equivalent of a hall pass from some federal environmental hall monitor. Without permission, no power.
The Department of Energy issued an emergency order allowing several Texas power plants to produce as much electricity as possible, a move expected to violate anti-pollution rules that comes amid a deepening electricity crisis in the state that has cut power to millions of homes.
The Energy Department order, requested by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, authorizes power plants throughout the state to run a maximum output levels, even as such a move is anticipated to result in a violation of limits of pollution. —Bloomberg
With their hand-tied ERCOT started rationing power due to emissions into the environment & further ordered OUTSIDE power usage which increases power bills to in some cases up to over $ 9000-megawatt hour.
I imagine there will be some sort of class-action lawsuit.
first, the regulators live in China, Michigan and Canada.
second, see above.
Almost everyone has fixed rate plans. If a person did not, and choose a variable plan, then you get variable prices, and whose fault is that? The person who decided that a fixed rate plan was not what they wanted, that’s who’s fault it is.
triple $600 is $1,800, not $17,000. So which is it? Or am I reading this wrong?
This should put an end to all those alternative power suppliers. Anyone with a brain will switch to a fixed rate plan.
“Defenders of green energy and fossil fuels are pointing fingers at each other for the failures that led to dangerous blackouts in Texas — but could both sides be missing the bigger picture?”
Yes nearly everyone I’ve seen commenting are missing the big picture. This problem has been developing over a few decades.We’ve shut down 95,000 MWs of RELIABLE 24/7/365 baseload coal generation since 2011. We sacrificed it for UNRELAIBLE green energy that doesn’t work when the sun doesn’t shine, when the wind doesn’t blow, and when it’s too cold.
Anyone like me who’s spent 40 years in the industry isn’t surprised in the slightest. We knew this day would come.
Green is a luxury.
“WFAA spoke with Griddy customer Ty Williams who says bill nearly tripled from $600 last month to nearly $17,000 so far this month”
Someone can’t add. Tripling $600 is $1800, not $17,000, That’s what happens when you close the schools for a year.
Saving $20 on my bill was not worth the risk. That's why i chose a fixed rate. If you have a fixed rate - you won't have a $5000 bill next month. Mine is projected to be $250.
Which one scares you more?
_That_ is the one the media wants you believe.
I would not pay a $17,000 electric, let’em cut it off, take the $17,000 and buy a really nice generator and plan for a solar system that is grid tied....
Coming to a Green New Deal near you.
Except that once the current plan period ends, the jump up will happen.
One way or another, everyone is going to be paying that bill. The ones on variable are doing it upfront. The ones on fixed will be doing it later and probably more over time.
Sen Cruz said Texas' power is not federally regulated. Does the above mean the EPA?
“...WFAA spoke with Griddy customer Ty Williams who says bill nearly tripled from $600 last month to nearly $17,000 so far this month. Williams pays for service to his home, guest house and office....”
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Wow... his bill TRIPLED from $600 to $17.000? I guess he’s a believer in the MATH IS RACIST chant!
Point, set and match.
Our county and the cities within it, had two coal fired power plants. We now have one, because of a consent decree. The second one should go offline by 2022 on New Years Eve. The one still running had converted to NG, but in WA state that is not renewable enough.
They were replaced with a solar farm and wind turbines. In Western WA, a solar farm? Idiots.
You’re using White people Math which is racist.
The only constant in life is getting the shaft...
It sounds like some people took a gamble and lost big time. I try to stay on top of our local municipal power company. We are at their mercy because they are in effect a monopoly. Because the power company is buying more power from renewable providers under contract, the rate payers are exposed to the risk of increase dependence on the spot market. That is a very, very risky gamble. We essentially have no choice in the matter. Fortunately, I can burn wood if I need to. At least for now.
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