ADVERTISEMENT

So those crazy electric bills for some Texans...

cosmickid

Hall of Famer
Oct 23, 2009
12,549
7,784
113
Initially, the story of the Texas Tragedy revolved around the cataclysmic power grid failure, and people even freezing to death in their homes. But now another nightmare has emerged for some of the folks who did NOT lose power last week. Not sure of the political ramifications and who is to blame for these variable-rate plans being sold. But if someone tried to charge me thousands of dollars for a week's worth of what amounted to my normal utility usage, I'd be ready to go postal...

"As millions of Texans shivered in dark, cold homes over the past week while a winter storm devastated the state’s power grid and froze natural gas production, those who could still summon lights with the flick of a switch felt lucky.

Now, many of them are paying a severe price for it.

“My savings is gone,” said Scott Willoughby, a 63-year-old Army veteran who lives on Social Security payments in a Dallas suburb. He said he had nearly emptied his savings account so that he would be able to pay the $16,752 electric bill charged to his credit card — 70 times what he usually pays for all of his utilities combined. “There’s nothing I can do about it, but it’s broken me.”

 
  • Wow
Reactions: sglowrider
Initially, the story of the Texas Tragedy revolved around the cataclysmic power grid failure, and people even freezing to death in their homes. But now another nightmare has emerged for some of the folks who did NOT lose power last week. Not sure of the political ramifications and who is to blame for these variable-rate plans being sold. But if someone tried to charge me thousands of dollars for a week's worth of what amounted to my normal utility usage, I'd be ready to go postal...

"As millions of Texans shivered in dark, cold homes over the past week while a winter storm devastated the state’s power grid and froze natural gas production, those who could still summon lights with the flick of a switch felt lucky.

Now, many of them are paying a severe price for it.

“My savings is gone,” said Scott Willoughby, a 63-year-old Army veteran who lives on Social Security payments in a Dallas suburb. He said he had nearly emptied his savings account so that he would be able to pay the $16,752 electric bill charged to his credit card — 70 times what he usually pays for all of his utilities combined. “There’s nothing I can do about it, but it’s broken me.”

Interesting that the storm only lasted a week and they're already getting their electric bills?

Something isn't right.
 
This is why I still pay my bills with paper checks.

Have an old friend [i.e., age of four score plus] who in order to save the postage in mailing her utility bill check each month sent a single check to cover her pro rata rate for an entire year.

The utility company refused to cash her check and threatened to shut off her utility. After months of haggling she finally conceded to the company's demands.

She tirelessly waged losing crusades against her bank, her utility company, and the local school board. Gotta love her,
 
  • Like
Reactions: brianiu
Have an old friend [i.e., age of four score plus] who in order to save the postage in mailing her utility bill check each month sent a single check to cover her pro rata rate for an entire year.

The utility company refused to cash her check and threatened to shut off her utility. After months of haggling she finally conceded to the company's demands.

She tirelessly waged losing crusades against her bank, her utility company, and the local school board. Gotta love her,

Really hoot? "Crusades"? Off to re-education camp for you.
 
  • Like
Reactions: hoot1
Government interference.

too big to fail.

just way too many votes involved.

that said, it would be interesting to see just how these contracts were worded.

while demand obviously went up, i'm guessing it didn't more than triple or quadruple, if that.

demand didn't go up 1,000 times.

that said, while i know zero specifics, i doubt if the state govt has the legal authority to amnesty the absurd bills, so it will be interesting to see how the money side of this plays out..

and who is on the hook for all the water damage from burst pipes?

that said, this utility failure wasn't a case of unforeseen circumstances, it was a case of what was seen as acceptable collateral damage on the utilities' part.
 
Initially, the story of the Texas Tragedy revolved around the cataclysmic power grid failure, and people even freezing to death in their homes. But now another nightmare has emerged for some of the folks who did NOT lose power last week. Not sure of the political ramifications and who is to blame for these variable-rate plans being sold. But if someone tried to charge me thousands of dollars for a week's worth of what amounted to my normal utility usage, I'd be ready to go postal...

"As millions of Texans shivered in dark, cold homes over the past week while a winter storm devastated the state’s power grid and froze natural gas production, those who could still summon lights with the flick of a switch felt lucky.

Now, many of them are paying a severe price for it.

“My savings is gone,” said Scott Willoughby, a 63-year-old Army veteran who lives on Social Security payments in a Dallas suburb. He said he had nearly emptied his savings account so that he would be able to pay the $16,752 electric bill charged to his credit card — 70 times what he usually pays for all of his utilities combined. “There’s nothing I can do about it, but it’s broken me.”

It’s that damn green new deal. TX, keep voting republican, they’ll save you.
 
It’s that damn green new deal. TX, keep voting republican, they’ll save you.
It's almost hard to believe that anyone in an oil state like Texas would even suggest that solar and wind power contributed to the problem.
 
Yeah all that crude oil that Texas uses to power their electric grid. :rolleyes:
Yeah all that crude oil that Texas uses to power their electric grid. :rolleyes:
But you (🙄) ignored Texas' use of oil/natural gas/No. 2 heating fuel for heating as opposed to power. Apparently, you're good with what happened.

They needed both -- a source of electric power and a source of heat.
 
But you (🙄) ignored Texas' use of oil/natural gas/No. 2 heating fuel for heating as opposed to power. Apparently, you're good with what happened.

They needed both -- a source of electric power and a source of heat.

They don't use No. 2 or any crude oil sources for electricity.
 

Haaland revoked a dozen different energy policy orders put in place during Trump administration, announcing that her priorities would be to address climate change and shift to "the green energy potential" of public lands, assuming any energy is produced at all. These moves not only fly in the face of many promises that Biden made on the campaign trail, but also undermine statements Haaland made during the confirmation process. Nobody should be surprised considering Haaland's background
 
ADVERTISEMENT