'Turn off auto-pay,' says Texas attorney if your electric bill has soared after the winter storm

[BillyAlabama]

If any private company raised its prices in this manner during a state of emergency they would rightfully be convicted of price gouging.

[Ms.Robot.]

The electric service that never was, except for the bill.

[mcherry]

The state of Texas and the Citizens of Texas need to sue the brakes off of Ercot for this major problem that they caused. My thoughts and Prayers go out to the people of Texas.

[frankcoffey]

Never, ever, ever use auto-pay on anything. This is only one of MANY things that can go wrong. If it’s required for small subscriptions use a credit card just in case. That buys you time to get resolution.

[whospilledmybeans]

That’s price gouging. Didn’t even make consumers aware. They’ll lose money through the huge SUE

[EvilVacuum]

Enjoy that deregulation Texans! Without the government to advocate for you, companies will gladly extract as much profit from you as they can. Executives have already talked about how rich they are going to get from this week.

[shawnzeleny]

Sounds like price gouging to me, isn’t that illegal in the state of an emergency?

[sivispacem]

I would loose my mind seeing $17, 000 bill😵🤯

[chandelballard]

"we are prepared for this winter"
Later
"here is a little gift we snuck into your electric bill"

[donnariggs]

ever notice the ones implementing these policies are never the ones hurt by

[obits]

The price spike was caused by the generators failing to prepare for the cold weather. Based on this, I would argue that the failed generators should have to cover the difference in price.

[MK-tqec]

Energy, water, and healthcare should never be deregulated

[chandelballard]

increasing prices without strong warnings to the customer after you made them agree to pay you is quite the scam there. Wow

[moerow]

They need to storm that Ercot corporate office like it's the Capitol Building in DC.

[bjmoon]

But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. 2Timothy 3:13, KJV

[HiThere-scjr]

PROVIDED NO POWER....THRN YOU HAVE TO PAY EXORBITANT
PRICES.

[waltermosbyii]

This crisis was man made. The utility companies knew this weather storm was coming and knew their electric grid was not ready to handle the grid failure but the energy crisis would drive the stock of utility companies over 150 percent. These crisis have ALWAYS been about MONEY. The "least of these" in America are almost NEVER thought of or cared about. So much for the land of the free and home of the brave.

[valrobinson]

NUMBER ONE ITS A DISASTER AND YOU SHOULDNT BE CHARGING PEOPLE FOR JUST NOT RIGHT...NO FOOD WATER...POWER....AND YOU WANT TO TURN AROUND AND BILL THEM...HAVE SOME COMPASSION

[jimhere]

How in the world can anyone pay $600 a month?

[isaacng]

That's what you get with deregulated free market. High and inelastic demand, with limited supply = insane prices. That's why we public utilities are heavily regulated in the rest of the first world countries.