Variable rate system electricity bill soaring… A three-bedroom house costs 10 million won
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In the worst cold wave, Texas residents received bills of electricity bills.
Fox News reported on the 20th (local time) that electricity bills skyrocketed due to a winter storm, and some residents of Texas received a ridiculously soaring bill. Ty Williams, who lives in Arlington, Texas, luckily avoided the power outage, but received a bill for electricity that was worth $17,000 this month. 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 Pierce couple, who live in a three-bedroom house near Dallas, also rose to $10,000 (11 million won) in electricity bills for heating during a cold wave. Dallas resident DeAndre Upshow also complained that he was shocked after receiving a $7,000 (7,740,000 won) electricity bill. Holtom City resident Jose Del Rio turned on a heater to prevent freezing of water pipes in a two-room house that was left empty for sale, and charged $3,000 for electricity. Rio’s usual electricity bill was about 125 to 150 dollars a month (130,000 to 160,000 won).
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The residents who received large bills of electricity bills all have the common point that they were customers of a wholesale power company called’Greedy’ with a variable rate system. The price of this plan varies depending on the electricity supply and demand situation. Texas usually has a lot of energy resources, so the average charge per megawatt hour (MWh) was $50 ($5), which was okay.
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 (9.9 million won). Gredy explained that it was instructed customers to switch to other power services with a flat rate system due to the soaring prices, but it was virtually impossible to change companies 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.”
/ Reporter Park Ye-na [email protected]
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