/static.texastribune.org/media/files/c73061658e60a0b9e21d40135ce397aa/ATX%20Winter%20Storm%20SF%20TT%2039.jpg "Electric billing point in Texas: Greg Abbott promises relief")
Subscribe to The Brief, our daily newsletter that keeps readers informed of the most important news in Texas.
Gov. Greg Abbott said he and other state leaders are striving to find quick fixes for homeowners and tenants who face steep electricity bills.
Abbott told a news conference in San Antonio on Sunday that the public utilities commission was preparing to issue a moratorium on disconnecting customers for non-payment, and to temporarily restrict electricity suppliers from sending customer invoices. The second step, according to Abbott, will give the commission time to address the rise in some accounts.
A day earlier, Abbott held a meeting with other state leaders to discuss the spikes some Texans see in their energy bills, following a severe winter storm that led to power outages throughout the day. The meeting came after numerous reports of Texans receiving excessive electric bills even though they did not have power during the storm. According to The New York Times, one Texan received a $ 16,752 electric bill. Not every resident will see the nails in their accounts.
“The skyrocketing prices facing so many homeowners and renters are currently the top priority for the Texas legislature,” he told the Sunday news conference.
In a statement, Abbott called the meeting with lawmakers on Saturday productive and said leaders “are moving fast to alleviate this problem and will continue to work together during the week on solutions.” The meeting took place by telephone conference.
February Winter Storm 2021
-
When will my water come back? How can I get water for so long?
We do not know. State and city officials insist on patience – and tell Texans who have running water to boil it. Take the necessary measures to prepare for a few days without water. Austin officials, for example, said on Feb. 19 that restoring water services is likely to be a multi-day multi-city process. We have some resources here, but your best choice to find free water is to check your local media.
-
Will I get a big energy bill?
Can be. People across the state have received huge energy bills. According to The New York Times, one resident received a $ 16,752 electric bill. Gov. Greg Abbott said his office is working with lawmakers to lower bills. Not everyone will face huge bill points. Austin, for example, has fixed base rates. If you are concerned, consult your service provider. Read more here.
-
How can I get updates?
Sign up for news updates from us by sending ‘hello’ to 512-967-6919 or visiting this page.
-
I was without power for more than a day. Why do people call these rolling interruptions?
When the state’s electricity network facility began implementing outages on Feb. 15 at 1:25 a.m. CT, it was intended to be a temporary measure to deal with an extreme winter event. Instead, some Texans go much longer without power and face days without electricity instead of the originally planned 45 minutes at a time. The electricity network was designed to be in high demand during the summer, when Texans turned their air conditioning home on. Some of the energy sources that power the net during the summer are offline during the winter. When Texans stayed home during the storm Sunday and demanded record amounts of electricity, the state’s power grid could not keep up.
-
Wait, we have our own power grid? Why?
Yes, Texas has its own power network run by an agency called ERCOT, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas. The history is long, but the short version is: Texas has its own network to prevent federal regulations from being handled. In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Federal Power Act, which charged the Federal Power Commission with overseeing the sale of electricity between states. But the utilities in Texas do not cross state lines. ERCOT was founded in 1970, in the wake of a major eclipse in the Northeast in November 1965, and the task is to manage the reliability of the network according to national standards. Note that Texas is not all on the same power grid. El Paso is on a different grid, as is the upper panhandle and part of East Texas.
-
I read online that wind turbines are the reason we lost power. Is this true?
No. The lost wind power is only a fraction of the reduction in power generation capacity that has interrupted millions of Texans. A Texas Electric Reliability Board official said Feb. 16 that 16 gigawatts of renewable energy generation, mostly wind generation, was offline. Nearly double that, 30 gigawatts, has been lost due to thermal sources, which include gas, coal and nuclear energy. “Texas is a gas state,” said Michael Webber, a professor of energy resources at the University of Texas at Austin. “Gas is currently failing in the most spectacular way.”
-
How can I stay warm? How can I help others?
The National Weather Service encourages people to close blinds and curtains, if possible gather in one room and close doors for others and put towels in the cracks under the doors. Wear loose-fitting, lightweight clothing. Eating snacks and staying hydrated can warm the body. Some cities offer warm-up centers and transportation as needed – find local resources here. If you have resources or can offer financial donations, you can help non-profit organizations here.
-
See more coverage
Along with Abbott, the heads of the Senate and the House – Republican Lieutenant General Dan Patrick and House Speaker Dade Phelan, respectively – were also addressed.
Members of the two chambers also attended the meeting, including chairs of the Senate’s Finance and House Credits Budgeting Committees, as well as chairs of the Senate’s Commerce, Commerce and Household Energy Resources Committees.
According to the governor’s office, the discussion with lawmakers was aimed at calculating the cost of the bouncing energy bills and ‘how the state can help reduce this burden.’
Later this week, House and Senate committees will meet to examine how disruptions occurred and what roles entities such as the Texas Electric Reliability Council played in those power outages.
‘On Thursday, the interrogation of the stakeholders involved will begin to find out if something went wrong, what went wrong, who is to blame, and, more importantly, what solutions we can do in the future as a state legislature … to ensure that it will absolutely never happen again, “State Representative Craig Goldman, a Republican in Fort Worth, chair of the House Energy Resources Committee, said during an NBC-DFW interview aired Sunday.
Disclosure: New York Times was a financial backer of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, non-partisan news organization funded in part by donations from members, foundations, and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune’s journalism. Find a complete list of these.