Texas residents showing bomb bills▶ Click here for a larger view
The cold wave that hit Texas in the United States even brought about a post-storm called bomb electricity bills.
Fox News reported on the 20th (local time) that some residents in Texas received a ridiculously soaring bill due to a surge in electricity bills following a winter storm.
Ty Williams, who lives in Arlington, Texas, luckily avoided the power outage, but received an electricity bill worth $17,000 this month.
Prior to the cold wave, he spent an average monthly electricity bill of 660 dollars (730,000 won) for his usual house, guesthouse, and office combined.
“I tried to save electricity during the winter storm,” he exclaimed, saying, “Who in the world can pay these charges. It doesn’t make any sense.”
The Royce Pierces, who live in a three-bedroom house near Dallas, have also struggled with the recent surge in electricity bills.
This is because the electricity bill for heating during the cold weather soared to 10,000 dollars (11 million won).
The Dallas resident DeAndre Upshow also complained that he was shocked after receiving a $7,000 (77.4 million won) electricity bill.
Holtom City resident Jose Del Rio turned on a heater to prevent freezing of water pipes in a two-room house he had left empty for sale, and received a $3,000 (3,130,000 won) electricity bill.
Rio’s usual electricity bill was about 125 to 150 dollars a month (130,000 to 160,000 won).
Texas power grid▶ Click here for a larger view
The residents who received large bills of electricity bills all had a common point that they were customers of a wholesale power company called’Greedy’, which applied a variable rate system.
The price of this plan varies depending on the electricity supply and demand situation.
Texas is usually rich in energy resources, so the average price per megawatt hour (MWh) of $50 ($5) was not a problem.
However, as power demand surged due to a record cold wave and the power supply was soaring to the point of a massive power outage, the wholesale price soared to $9,000 per megawatt-hour (99,500,000 won).
Gredy explained that he had guided customers to switch to other power services with a flat rate system due to rising prices, but it was virtually impossible to change service providers in the midst of a cold wave and power outage.
When complaints over the bomb charges struck, Texas authorities launched an investigation.
Governor Greg Abbott said, “It is unacceptable for the people who suffered from a cold wave to be hit with high energy costs,” and “we will come up with a countermeasure.”
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