Griddy customers moved to other electricity suppliers after ERCOT started it from the Texas market

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Texans receiving their electricity from Griddy Energy are being relocated to other suppliers after the Texas Electric Reliability Board, which operates the power grid for most of Texas, revoked the company’s rights to operate, according to the market notice .

In all, Texas’ electricity suppliers made no more than $ 2.1 billion in payments due to ERCOT, according to another market announcement Friday. The state entity relies on transaction fees from suppliers to help manage the state’s electrical network. The missed payments came after the cost of a mega-watt-hour of electricity rose from an average of $ 35 to $ 9,000 during the climax of last week’s devastating winter storm that contributed to the collapse of the state’s power grid.

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Griddy has made headlines for sending massive bills to customers. One woman in Chambers County has filed a class-action lawsuit in which she accused Griddy of prize money. In the case, her lawyer claimed that the company charged her more than $ 9,000 for the week of the storm, in stark contrast to her normal monthly bill of $ 200 to $ 500.

Griddy gives wholesale feed rates directly to customers who in turn pay $ 10 a month to the company. It differs from fixed rate electricity plans that offer a constant rate regardless of market conditions. Wholesale prices rose during the storm as winter weather temporarily pushed many generators off the line, causing supply to shrink and demand to soar.

ERCOT said it “works closely with PUC staff and relevant market participants to ensure efficient and effective customer transfer.” ERCOT spokeswoman Leslie Sopko said she had no further details about Griddy’s customers.

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In a message to customers that Griddy spokeswoman Lauren Valdes shared with The Texas Tribune, the company said ERCOT ignored requests for first aid and closed it Friday.

“It was not a choice we made,” the message read. “On the same day that ERCOT announced that it had a deficit of $ 2.1 billion, it decided to act against only one company representing a small fraction of the market and the deficit.”

ERCOT may prohibit electrical suppliers from doing business if they make four late payments over one year, according to the entity’s protocol.

Last week, Griddy warned customers about price increases and encouraged them to switch to other providers, according to a previous report by The Texas Tribune. The company also posted a blog on its website blaming the Texas Texas Utility Commission, which regulates ERCOT, for raising the wholesale energy price.

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The catastrophic aftermath of last week’s storm on Thursday and Friday spurred day-long hearings in the Texas House and Senate where lawmakers questioned ERCOT CEO Bill Magness, PUC chairman DeAnn Walker, and representatives of various electricity suppliers about what went wrong. has.

Tom Hancock, a representative of Garland Power and Light, which is owned by the municipality, said many suppliers may be struggling to make their payments to ERCOT on time after the aftermath of the storm.

“ERCOT owes a lot of money today to market participants who could have been short,” Hancock said. “We think if this domino effect is going to start happening, we will know about it after today.”