(Reuters) – Elected officials in Texas said the state should help pay for some of the eye-watering electricity bills sent to residents after the devastating and deadly winter storm that caused widespread blackouts.
Texas has a highly unusual deregulated energy market that allows consumers to choose from several competing electricity providers.
Some suppliers sell electricity at wholesale prices that increase in line with demand, which skyrocketed when a record freeze reached a state unaccustomed to extreme cold, killing at least two dozen people and turning off the power of more than 4 million people in its peak; about 30,000 people were still without power on Sunday, said Texas Governor Greg Abbott.
As a result, some Texans who were still able to turn on the lights or keep the refrigerator running ended up with $ 5,000 bills for just a five-day period, according to photos of invoices posted on social media by angry consumers.
The Dallas Morning News said that a provider offering a wholesale rate plan asked its thousands of customers to switch suppliers before the storm to avoid high prices, but many found it would take too long to switch suppliers.
“The bill must go to the state of Texas,” Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said in an interview with CBS News on Sunday. “When they are getting these exorbitant electricity bills and are having to pay for their homes, repair their homes, they shouldn’t have to take responsibility.”
Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price told CBS that both the state and federal government should help with the accounts.
United States Senator Ted Cruz, who was forced to stop a vacation tour with his family at the Mexican resort of Cancún after public outrage, also distanced himself from the free market system he had previously praised.
“This is WRONG,” wrote Cruz on Twitter. “No energy company should receive unexpected profits because of a natural disaster, and Texans should not be martyred by ridiculous increases in rates from last week’s disaster. State and local regulators must act quickly to avoid this injustice. “
Abbott called an emergency meeting of state lawmakers on Saturday to discuss the problem, saying in a statement that they have a responsibility to ensure that Texans “do not get stuck in skyrocketing energy bills”.
On Sunday, the governor told reporters that the Texas Public Utilities Commission will order electricity companies to stop sending electricity bills to customers. The commission is also issuing a temporary moratorium on termination for non-payment, Abbott said.
Separately, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton issued civil investigation demands to energy companies regarding the outages, their emergency plans and prices, saying the companies “roughly managed” the climate emergency.
US President Joe Biden approved a major disaster declaration for Texas on Saturday, which makes federal funds available to people affected by the storm, including temporary housing assistance and home repairs and low-cost loans.
All power plants were back up and running this weekend and power was restored to most homes when the weather returned to normal, but there were still concerns about the water supply, with millions of Texans being advised to boil water before to use. Houston officials said the city’s water was safe for use without boiling on Sunday.
Reporting by Linda So in Washington and Jonathan Allen in New York; Edition of Daniel Wallis