Texas Gov. Greg Abbott calls the increase in energy bills ‘unacceptable’, holding emergencies with lawmakers

Updated at 2:59: Include Patrick’s statement.

AUSTIN – Government Greg Abbott would hold an emergency meeting with key lawmakers on Saturday to discuss ways to prevent nails in Texas bills, after millions of state residents endured days of power outages and water outages.

The Republican governor has planned a virtual mid-afternoon collusion with Lieutenant Government Dan Patrick, Speaker Dade Phelan and eight other lawmakers in response to reports of devastatingly high bills for power customers in Texas not planning on fixed rates.

As wholesale prices have jumped from as low as 2 cents per kilowatt-hour – and usually from 7 cents – to $ 9 per kilowatt-hour, some homeowners have already been hit with bills amounting to $ 5,000 for just a few days of electricity.

“It is unacceptable that Texans, who suffered days in the freezing cold without electricity or heat, are now being hit with rising energy costs,” Abbott said in a statement before his meeting. He and lawmakers would “seek solutions to ensure the Texans are not on their guard against unreasonable spikes in their energy bills,” he added.

Patrick, the presiding officer of the Senate, noted that excessive bills hitting Texans in the deregulated electricity market have reported for exchange rates or indexed plans.

“It’s just wrong,” Patrick said in a statement quoted by a national publication quoting stories from WFAA-TV in Dallas and KPRC-TV in Houston. “We’re going to fix it. We can not allow it to stand. ”

At Abbott’s request, lawmakers in the Senate and House of Representatives held meetings to investigate what went wrong with generating electricity and managing the state’s transmission network, which allowed more than 4 million Texans to lose power. and suffer through days of icy cold weather. .

Abbott’s quick merger on Saturday matches the pattern of numerous conference calls he made last year amid the coronavirus pandemic, usually with about ten lawmakers – often with about eight Republicans and two Democrats.

Saturday’s meeting was Jane Nelson, chair of the Senate Finance Committee, R-Flower Mound, and her counterpart from the House, chair Gregory Bonnen, R-Friendswood.

North Richland Hills GOP Senator Kelly Hancock, who chairs the Senate Commerce and Commerce Committee, and his vice president, Jacksonville Republican Robert Nichols, would also meet with Brownsville Democratic Senator Eddie Lucio Jr., the vice president. of Finances of the Senate.

From home, in addition to Phelan and Bonnen, participants had to include Chris Paddie, chairman of the State Affairs, R-Marshall; Energy Source Committee Chairman Craig Goldman, R-Fort Worth; and the Houston Democratic Rep. Ana Hernandez, the vice president of state affairs.