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Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says state utilities can NOT stick customers with huge bills after deadly winter storm caused widespread blackouts
UK Daily Mail ^ | February 22 2021 | Reuters

Posted on 02/22/2021 12:04:13 AM PST by knighthawk

Texas utility regulators will temporarily ban power companies from billing customers or disconnecting them for non-payment, after the deadly winter storm that caused widespread blackouts, Governor Greg Abbott said on Sunday.

Abbott called an emergency meeting with state lawmakers on Saturday after reports of many customers receiving bills for thousands of dollars for just a few days of electricity service while Texas was gripped by frigid temperatures.

'Texans who have suffered through days of freezing cold without power should not be subjected to skyrocketing energy bills,' Abbott told reporters on Sunday in San Antonio.

(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events; US: Texas
KEYWORDS: gregabbott; texas
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1 posted on 02/22/2021 12:04:13 AM PST by knighthawk
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To: knighthawk

They signed a contract.


2 posted on 02/22/2021 12:15:09 AM PST by Berlin_Freeper
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To: Berlin_Freeper

Yeah what kind of weird rate plan are they on? Some kind of feel-good “Green Energy” special rate plan? Texas FReepers what say you?


3 posted on 02/22/2021 12:18:34 AM PST by Drago
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To: Berlin_Freeper

“They signed a contract.”

They did, but I wonder about the responsibility of the various regulatory agencies in restraining the market from producing the necessary GW.

Some may not know, but we have several largw Gulf Coast refineries shut down as a result of natural gas shortages. ExxonMobil Baytown is down. Beaumont is down. Motiva Port Arthur is down. Marathon Galveston Bay is down. The situation is shocking to be honest.


4 posted on 02/22/2021 12:25:04 AM PST by SecAmndmt (Aim small, miss small)
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To: knighthawk

Gee, Abbott wakes up and realizes he is about to lose everything over this.

tell people to suck it up after it’s obvious the entire system was at fault?

Sure, go ahead. Suicide is painless, as the song goes.


5 posted on 02/22/2021 1:15:56 AM PST by Regulator (It's Fraud, Jim)
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To: Regulator
Abbott wakes up and realizes he is about to lose everything over this.

No one is blaming Abbott is squat. He asked the EPA for waivers to allow all Texas producers to operate at full capacity from the EPA and that was denied. It's BiteMe's EPA head (a background in wastes management, not energy) that screwed up, not Abbott.

6 posted on 02/22/2021 1:32:09 AM PST by BiglyCommentary
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To: SecAmndmt

Thanks for posting. The list of who is open might have been shorter. Was it the storm that caused this?


7 posted on 02/22/2021 1:36:05 AM PST by momincombatboots (Ephesians 6... who you are really at war with)
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To: knighthawk

This pisses me off because the people who signed up for variable rate or wholesale pricing contracts were paying less for electric for years. There is no free lunch. When you buy a fixed rate contract for a year or two, those rates are higher since the company is taking on the risk of what electricity may cost in the future. Now these crybabies will not pay they risk premium they knew they signed up for, and all the prudent ones will get stuck with the bill. Will those people get back billed for each 1 cent per KWH used during the last few years, the amount of the risk? They should. They get all the benefit when their risky bet is rolling sevens and I pay when their bet rolls snake eyes?!! A pox on all of them.


8 posted on 02/22/2021 1:39:29 AM PST by BiglyCommentary
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To: BiglyCommentary

Yes, but that’s an argument you can’t win. Even Republicans (or maybe especially republicans) can’t take that much political heat. Maybe we should prefer to have politicians smart enough to avoid damaging battles they can see they would lose.
Another one that pisses me off is the government paying off college debt. I payed my kids college bills, and sacrificed to do so. I feel like I’m walking around with a giant ‘Sucker’ sign taped to the back of my shirt.


9 posted on 02/22/2021 1:54:22 AM PST by conejo99
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To: BiglyCommentary

He wouldn’t have needed waivers if he wasn’t part of the cheerleading crew that closed so much Texas coal and moved to wind and solar. Biden sucks, but the Bushie Texas GOPe created this mess. They have run things for 25 years.


10 posted on 02/22/2021 2:00:28 AM PST by DesertRhino (Dog is man's best friend, and moslems hate dogs. Add that up. .... )
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To: BiglyCommentary

If I lived in Texas and I got an electric bill for $1,500 after sitting in the cold darkness for several days I would refuse to pay it just on principle.


11 posted on 02/22/2021 2:06:50 AM PST by Alberta's Child ("And once in a night I dreamed you were there; I canceled my flight from going nowhere.")
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To: Alberta's Child

I look at this no differently than if my neighbor decided to save money year after year by not buying homeowner’s insurance. Every year they are pocketing that money and I’m having to pay it. Then a freak tornado comes and whacks their house. They blubber and want others (me) to pay? We already paid every year for the risk we chose not to take.

Or they drive without car insurance and then one day total their car and blubber and want others to pay?

Heads I win, tails you lose?


12 posted on 02/22/2021 2:19:01 AM PST by BiglyCommentary
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To: Berlin_Freeper

Unconscionability.


13 posted on 02/22/2021 2:23:02 AM PST by EEGator
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To: conejo99
Yes, but that’s an argument you can’t win.

I do get that. The majority are irresponsible babies that want some nanny to protect them from their own stupid or laziness.

14 posted on 02/22/2021 2:23:17 AM PST by BiglyCommentary
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To: BiglyCommentary
I have a slightly different take.

Imagine if your neighbor chose one insurance plan that cost them more over the last five years based on a flat, consistent premium of $100/month.

You chose a different plan with a variable premium and only paid an average of $25/month for the last five years.

Then the insurance company sends you a bill for $1,500 after it refused to pay the claim you filed last month.

Yeah, you should feel totally justified in refusing to pay the bill. If the company wasn’t there for you when you really needed it, then your next bill should be $0.

15 posted on 02/22/2021 2:27:23 AM PST by Alberta's Child ("And once in a night I dreamed you were there; I canceled my flight from going nowhere.")
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To: Drago

Nothing to do with green energy, everything to do with sleazy sales promotions by unregulated utilities. It’s easier to proactively rein in unfair business practices than to retroactively fix them.

California’s experience in 2001-2002 illustrated the folly of allowing variable rate contracts.


16 posted on 02/22/2021 2:34:46 AM PST by Ponce de Leon County (Ad maiorem Dei gloriam )
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To: Alberta's Child

Ok, that’s an interesting take on this. “I’ll pay extra, whatever it costs to keep the lights on. If the lights go off, it’s no deal.”


17 posted on 02/22/2021 2:34:53 AM PST by BiglyCommentary
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To: knighthawk

Sounds like they deregulated them just a wee bit too much.

Ex used car salesman selling electric now?


18 posted on 02/22/2021 2:39:39 AM PST by Pollard (Bunch of curmudgeons)
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To: BiglyCommentary
If I was running the utility I would take a huge hit on the bottom line to avoid the terrible optics of sending $1,500 bills out after a fiasco like this.

Sometimes it’s not about doing what the contract allows you to do. It’s about doing what is right.

19 posted on 02/22/2021 2:39:42 AM PST by Alberta's Child ("And once in a night I dreamed you were there; I canceled my flight from going nowhere.")
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To: BiglyCommentary

Could you please link to that waiver denial story?

The only thing I find in googling “Texas Abbott EPA waiver” is:

From the Office of Gov. Greg Abbott
AUSTIN Texas (News Release) - Governor Greg Abbott today issued a statement after the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued waivers to increase access to gasoline and diesel fuel in certain Texas communities impacted by winter weather. These waivers temporarily allow for the use of an additional or alternate type of fuel for Texas Low Emissions Diesel and oxygenated gasoline fuels. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality submitted a request for these waivers yesterday.
“Thank you to the Environmental Protection Agency for swiftly granting these waivers that will help increase access to fuel in our communities,” said Governor Abbott. “These waivers help ensure that our fuel supply can quickly reach communities as the state of Texas recovers from the impact of recent winter weather.”


20 posted on 02/22/2021 2:41:48 AM PST by Ponce de Leon County (Ad maiorem Dei gloriam )
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