Amid freezing weather conditions, Texans face thousands of dollars in electric bills

Texas is currently in the middle of a winter storm and is experiencing its coldest temperatures in decades. This has resulted in a surge in electricity prices and power outages, bringing residents of the southern US state down to their knees. According to CNN, a Dallas resident DeAndre Upshaw received his latest utility bill showing he has to pay $7,000 for electricity, an unprecedented price hike due to the storm. Texas officials have said they are investigating the price hike.

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Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) on Saturday said it has launched an investigation into the factors that combined with the devastating winter weather to disrupt the flow of power to millions of homes in Texas. The regulator also said it has agreed to adjust POLR rules to protect retail customers feeling the financial effects of the ERCOT grid event. POLR or 'Provider of Last Resort' program will now require retail electric providers to volunteer to accept customers of other providers, who are exiting the market, and charge them a competitive rate, rather than the higher so-called 'POLR rate'. 

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"The immediate impact of this terrible weather was the loss of power for millions of Texas households and the financial aftershocks could be devastating. We must act swiftly to discover not only how this crisis came together, but also take meaningful steps to protect electricity customers," PUCT Chairman DeAnn Walker said in a statement. 

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Electric provider Griddy suggested their customers look for another provider with a fixed rate. "While we value our members, we want what is best for their wallet and family even more, even if that means helping them switch away to our competitors. Their well-being is more important than our bottom line," Griddy said last week. 

What contributed to price hike?

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), which operates the grid in the state, had forecasted temperatures in Houston to remain over 10 degrees Celcius, however, the mercury hovered below 4 degrees through most of the day on Thursday. This forecast failure meant that ERCOT had an insufficient generation plan and had to rely on fast-responding, expensive replacement generation to meet the higher actual system load caused by the cold temperatures. Freezing temperatures locked-up wind turbine towers and spiked energy demand across Texas.  

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