Texans say energy companies are on a power journey.
Electricity bills in the Lone Star State skyrocketed to $ 17,000 a month after a historic storm and power outages sparked a high demand for heat, according to reports Friday.
Dallas resident Ty Williams took a sticker shock when his monthly bill rose from $ 600 last month to nearly $ 17,000 so far this month, according to local station WFAA.
‘How the hell can anyone afford that? I mean, you’re going on a few hundred dollars a month… there’s absolutely no way “it doesn’t make any sense,” Williams, who said he received the bill from the energy company Griddy.
The price of power in Texas rose from $ 50 to $ 9,000 per megawatt in some cases as a result of the supply and demand disaster, the station said.
Customers with so-called “variable or indexed” power plans in Texas – the only state to operate its own unique stand-alone power grid – are in part controlled by market demand.
That caused prices to soar as Texans who did not lose power increased the heat in brutal cold temperatures this week, an expert told NBC.
“The last thing a lot of people need right now is a higher electricity bill – and unfortunately that’s something a lot of people will get stuck with,” said Matt Schulz, a lead industry analyst.
Royce Pierce, who lives in Willow Park, a Dallas suburb, said the electricity bill for his three-bedroom house has risen to $ 10,000 in recent days.
“We hope there will be relief,” Royce said. “This is something we might be able to skate past and tackle as time goes on, but how many people can’t? A lot of.”
Veronica Garcia, a Reliant Energy client in Mansfield, Texas, said the electricity bill for her one-bedroom apartment nearly doubled to $ 114 for her one-bedroom apartment.
“Hopefully if they’re decent, they won’t charge people for this because we had no control over the situation,” said Garcia, an administrative assistant at UT Southwestern Medical Center. “Hopefully I can beat the charges and do the right thing.”
A Reliant Energy spokeswoman told NBC that it offers flexible payment options to support customers affected by the storm.
Griddy did not immediately respond to a request for comment.