Joe.My.God. LGBT News
Houston’s ABC News affiliate reports:
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott called an emergency meeting late Saturday to address the spike in electricity bills due to the impact of the winter storm. In a statement, Abbott said, “It is unacceptable for Texans who suffered through days in the freezing cold without electricity or heat to now be hit with skyrocketing energy costs.”
The emergency meeting will include Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, Speaker Dade Phelan and members of the state’s legislature. Electricity supply and demand in Texas has gone back to normal operations, but when it out of whack over the past several days, the cost of power in the wholesale market went crazy.
The first tweet below is from Houston’s mayor.
What happened this week is not the fault of consumers. These high electricity bills caused by the PUC and ERCOT should go to the State of Texas. They were forewarned in 2011. st
— Sylvester Turner (@SylvesterTurner) February 21, 2021
Texans shouldn’t have to face a spike in their energy costs.
To quickly address this issue I held an emergency meeting today with legislative leaders to begin crafting solutions.
We are working to fix this fast.#txlegehttps://t.co/qYrQq1J5ho
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) February 21, 2021
Jennifer Evans from Fort Worth Texas knew her electric bill would be high, but she never imagined it would be $5,600. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (@ERCOT_ISO) uncapped the energy market on Monday, which caused prices to soar. https://t.co/zhqC7mKVkm
— Cleavon MD (@Cleavon_MD) February 21, 2021
CEO of TX gas company is giddy on call with shareholders over profits this week from storm. “This week is like hitting the jackpot with some of these incredible prices. We were able to sell at super premium prices for a material amount of production.”https://t.co/fAPb0cxC4n
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) February 18, 2021
Utility bills skyrocket in Texas during storm as privately owned utility companies price gouge residents desperate for power. https://t.co/jhjzR2sHXt
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) February 20, 2021
NYT: My savings is gone,” said Scott Willoughby, a 63-year-old Army vet who lives on SocSec in a Dallas suburb. He nearly emptied his savings to pay the $16,752 electric bill charged to his cc-70x what he usually pays for all of his utilities combined. “…t’s broken me.”
— Stephanie Ruhle (@SRuhle) February 21, 2021