Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced on Tuesday that more than $ 29 million in unpaid electricity bills was charged in February devastating winter storm will be forgiven. The relief is part of a bankruptcy plan from Griddy Energy, the Texas electricity provider accused of charging customers thousands of dollars too much.
Griddy filed for bankruptcy on Monday, making it the third Texas energy provider to file it since the February storm that left millions of state residents without power in freezing temperatures. At least 57 people died as a result of the storm, according to preliminary data released Monday by the Texas Department of State Health Services.
“My office sued Griddy Energy, under the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act, to hold them accountable for their escalation from last month’s winter storm by debiting huge amounts from customer accounts as Texans struggled to survive the storm,” Paxton said in response to Griddy’s bankruptcy filing.
Griddy’s plan offers “releases to approximately 24,000 former customers who owe $ 29.1 million in unpaid electricity bills,” Paxton said. He said his office is negotiating with the provider “to try to provide additional relief to those Griddy customers who have already paid their storm-related utility bills.”
“Through the bankruptcy plan, Griddy will release all outstanding payment obligations to those Texas consumers who could not afford their utility bills due to the high prices charged during the storm,” said the attorney general. “Texas will reduce the state lawsuit and civil investigation question, and Griddy will work with it in good faith to resolve these matters. Texas and Griddy will work in good faith to provide assistance to Texans who have already paid.”
Paid bill negotiations could affect clients like Lisa Khoury, a resident of Chambers County in Houston, who says Griddy pulled $ 1,200 from her bank account through an automatic payment system before stopping the payment through her bank. She still owes more than $ 8,000 for power that was intermittent.
Khoury is part of one class action lawsuit against Griddy seeking $ 1 billion in financial relief from the company.
Griddy blamed Khoury in the midst of a disaster. She and her husband were mostly without power in their house from Wednesday, February 17, 2021 to Thursday, February 18, 2021, “the complaint reads. She was charged $ 9,546 between February 1 and 19 – about 40 times more than her typical $ 200 to $ 250 bill range, according to the series. “At the same time, Khoury received her parents and in-laws, who are in their 80s, during the storm. Even then, she kept minimizing power consumption due to the high prices,” the complaint reads.
Khoury’s attorney Derek Potts, national managing partner of the Potts Law Firm, said Griddy’s billing violates Texas consumer protection laws – and thousands of electricity users are likely to be affected.
Potts said his company is now “reviewing the attorney general’s press release” while “continuing to find and recoup the estimated tens of millions of dollars actually taken from Texas consumers.” bank accounts and credit cards during the storm through Griddy. “
Griddy said the class action lawsuit was “worthless” in a statement to the Dallas Morning News. On its website, the company states that it is not benefiting from high energy prices and blamed the Texas Public Utility Commission for last weekend’s astronomical hikes. The Public Utility Commission (PUCT) changed the rules on Monday when it ordered the Texas grid operator to allow astronomically high electricity prices, Griddy said, adding that it was “seeking help” for its Texas Electric Reliability Council customers. (ERCOT), which manages the flow of electricity to them. ERCOT is regulated by the Public Utility Commission.
The last remaining member has now resigned, Governor Greg Abbott said in a statement Tuesday night. Public Utility Commission chairman Arthur D’Andrea, the only remaining three-seat board member who regulates Texas utilities, stepped down at Abbott’s request, according to the governor.
“Tonight I have requested and accepted the resignation of PUC Commissioner Arthur D’Andrea. I will appoint a replacement in the coming days who will have the responsibility of setting a new and fresh course for the agency,” the statement read. from Abbott. “Texans deserve to trust the Public Utility Commission, and this action is one of many steps that will be taken to reach that goal.”
Abbott has repeatedly blamed ERCOT for the power cuts and has called for an investigation into the board. Four ERCOT board members announced their own plans to step down Immediately after the storm, a seventh member resigned two days later, the Texas Tribune reports.
In a letter to the board, the first out-of-state members expressed concern about their out-of-state board leadership. Three of the retiring board members lived in other states and one lived in another country.
“We have reported recent concerns about the out-of-state governance of ERCOT,” the letter said. “To give state leaders a free hand with future direction and to eliminate distractions, we are resigning from the board effective on the suspension of our urgent board conference on Wednesday, February 24, 2021.”
After the seventh resignation, ERCOT spokeswoman Leslie Sopko said, “I believe he’s from Texas.”
Irina Ivanova contributed to this report.