Frustrated CPS Energy customers criticize tackling winter energy crisis

San antonio Dozens of angry CPS Energy customers gave utilities buyers a piece of their head during the first CPS board of trustees since the controlled outages last week.

At the peak of the utility’s interruptions strategy, there were approximately 372,000 customers without power. Trustees heard the stories behind the statistics from nearly two and a half hours of public commentary on Monday afternoon.

Although 108 people pre-registered to speak, not all did so because they were called one-on-one at the conference call.

Those who did speak told the council of their struggle with spoiled food, talking outside to warm up from the cold of an unheated house and forced to store precious insulin in the snow. Among other complaints, they also criticized the forced interruptions that left some people without power for several days.

“The trust is gone, and to say ‘sorry’ is empty,” said a caller. “People first” is not something you have to say anymore.

Many people also opposed the idea that customers had to pay for the event – even in the long run. Some suggested that bills for the storm period should be turned down.

The amount that CPS pays for fuel is usually rolled into customer accounts for 45 to 60 days. Given the sharp rise in the price of natural gas (up to 16,000%), CEO Paula Gold-Williams said CPS is considering extorting the cost over ten years or longer rather than leaving the cost in one account fall.

However, CPS is still figuring out how much more it spent during the winter meeting and what it can possibly do to reduce the amount before the cost is passed on to the taxpayers.

‘I understand very well how customers do not want to pay anything with the storm, “Gold-Williams said during the meeting. “We are going to do our best to lower prices, to work with government officials and local officials so that we can look for any resource to be helpful.”

Some speakers said that CPS should be placed under the control of the city council rather than by the appointed trustees – an issue that appeared in the failed petition ‘Recall CPS’. According to the San Antonio report, the petition could not get enough signatures to get to the vote on May 1, and the industrial court went to court in an attempt to cut the bones out from under it.

Share this:

Related