Re: Price Gouging By Private Energy Companies In Texas

On 2/22/21 3:47 PM, PIBB wrote:
> On 16:44  22 Feb 2021, Lee said:
> 
>>
>>
>> Demands Grow for Texas to 'Forgive 
>> All Utility Bills' as Price Gouging 
>> by Energy Companies Sparks Outrage
>> FEb 22
>>
>> $3,000.
>>
>> $6,500.
>>
>> $7,000.
>>
>> $17,000.
>>
>> Those are just some of the sky-
>> high electricity bills that Texans 
>> have reported receiving from their 
>> private utility providers in the 
>> aftermath of Winter Storm Uri, 
>> which overwhelmed the state's 
>> deregulated and fossil fuel-
>> dependent energy grid and caused 
>> widespread power outages amid 
>> frigid temperatures.
>>
>> But despite their efforts to keep 
>> usage low, Texans are telling media 
>> outlets that they've received 
>> staggering bills from their energy 
>> companies, confirming fears that 
>> the power crisis would prompt a 
>> wave of predatory price gouging as 
>> corporations attempt to push costs 
>> onto vulnerable customers.
>>
>> On Sunday, the Texas Public Utility 
>> Commission approved a pair of orders 
>> directing energy companies to 
>> temporarily halt disconnects due to 
>> non-payment and stop sending bill 
>> estimates to customers. Republican 
>> Gov. Greg Abbott—who has come under 
>> fire for erroneously blaming renewable 
>> energy for the power outages—said 
>> Saturday that "we have a 
>> responsibility to protect Texans from 
>> spikes in their energy bills that are 
>> a result of the severe winter weather 
>> and power outages."
>>
>> But Texans are demanding concrete 
>> and sweeping action from the state 
>> government, not mere empty rhetoric, 
>> to prevent the power crisis from 
>> sending families into financial ruin.
>>
>> "Unfortunately, the Texas energy market 
>> is the market that gave us Enron," Rep. 
>> Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) said in an 
>> appearance on MSNBC on Saturday. "So 
>> you've gotta watch what happens with 
>> the suppliers and the providers there. 
>> And it looks pretty much like there 
>> was price gouging going on. And people 
>> are starting to get these energy bills 
>> for over $1,000, and I don't believe 
>> the people of Texas should have to pay 
>> these outrageous bills."
>>
>> Scott Willoughby, a 63-year-old Army 
>> veteran who lives on Social Security 
>> payments, told the New York Times that 
>> he wiped out his savings account to
>> pay the $16,752 electric bill that 
>> Houston-based company Griddy charged 
>> him for the month of February.
>>
>> "There's nothing I can do about it, 
>> but it's broken me," Willoughby said.
>>
>> https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/02/22/demands-
>> grow-texas-forgive- all-utility-bills-price-gouging-
>> energy-companies-sparks
> 
> I can't get too upset about this. Customers signed up for lower than 
> usual bills tied to the wholesale price of electricity but with the 
> risk that it might rise when demand is high.  
> 
> Did customers honestly think using suppliers like Griddy was a one-
> way bet and that prices could only go down?
> 
> Seems like these customers got juice (by paying richly) when 
> everyone else couldn't.  Nice for them.

It'll be cheaper to buy a solar electric set-up for their house and just
throw the electric grids bill in the trash.

Kind of like people walking away from their mortgages in the 2008-09
Democrat caused mortgage disaster.




-- 
That's karma

Banning guns and de-funding police won't lower crime if you follow the
Democrats Rhetoric. *And their very own Democrat actions confirm* that
even *they believe they're lying* since they're doing the opposite *to*
*reduce any crimes "you" might commit against the Government* that they
control and apparently they *believe guns and fences and police* *will*
*protect* them from your crime and violence. So why won't those same
things protect you from crime and violence?