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Texas, USA suffered power outages and water outages due to heavy snow and cold waves.
As the cold went away, the’electricity charge bomb’, worth tens of millions of won, fell this time.
It is said that privatization of the electricity market in 2002 became a major factor.
Reporter Shin Jeong-yeon will tell you.
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Texas, USA, hit the worst cold wave in history last week.
A Dallas resident avoided a power outage, but received an absurd electricity bill.
The 20-day fee was 6,757 dollars, and our money was 7.5 million won.
[디안드레 업쇼/텍사스 주민]
“I tried to get gas and groceries in the cold and keep the water pipes from bursting. In the meantime, I couldn’t imagine a 7,000 dollar electricity bill.”
Another resident in Arlington was charged 18.8 million won.
He was a person who paid 730,000 won on average per month.
There are not one or two cases of such damage, but all of them were customers who subscribed to the’floating rate’ of private power companies.
Texas has opened up the electricity market since 2002, with about 70% privatized.
The’rate bomb’ caused by privatization has become a reality, but it turns out that some companies have skyrocketed their electricity bills per hour from $50 per megawatt to $9,000 in this cold wave.
In addition, blackout damage is mainly concentrated in low-income areas, and parents who lost their 11-year-old son in the cold filed a 100 billion won lawsuit against a private power company.
When complaints arose, the state authorities launched an investigation into Buryaburya.
[그레그 애벗/텍사스 주지사]
“The Texas Public Goods Commission will restrict utility companies from sending soaring electricity bills to subscribers.”
Water pipes burst and water treatment plants broke down in the cold wave, but water shortages continue as repairs are delayed.
Half of the residents endure day by day, waiting in long lines to receive water rations.
[브라이어 로건/텍사스 주민]
“I didn’t have water to flush, so I even thought about taking snow and melting it.”
US President Joe Biden has declared Texas a major disaster area and is considering a visit this week.
This is Jeongyeon Shin from MBC News.
(Video editing: Byun Seoha)
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