Since Monday, when the winter storm hit Texas, ERCOT raised electricity prices because of high demand.
One local Mineral Wells resident, who wishes not to be named, faces a bill for this month currently around $5,700 and rising. “My bill amount was 154.00 Monday as of early afternoon it is 5700.00 and rising, and I have kept my heat on 65 blinds closed, and sealed windows with towels unplugged everything didn’t wash dry or cook. I only have a 3 bedroom 2 bath.”
“They did email saying prices would be higher during this time if you wanted to change providers, but we trusted it would not be this unrealistic.”
Another resident of Mineral Wells, Samantha Hickey, is in a similar situation with the provider Griddy. The worst part is she is being charged $1000 for a period of time when she didn’t even have power to her house.
“Our power went out on Monday at 4 am and didn’t come back on until Wednesday about 5-6 pm. Griddy updates every few minutes so you can always see your exact amount owed. I checked it on Monday morning, and I was only at about $30, which is normal for my house for the month up to that point (Feb 1-15). I rechecked Tuesday morning, and my bill had shot up to $800. From then on, it’s gone up and currently over $1000.”
Samantha Hickey
Griddy sent out an email to all its customers suggesting they they switch to another provider but as Samantha found out, all energy providers are not allowing new consumers for the next few weeks. so she is stuck using Griddy for at least two more weeks.
“We pushed out an email as quickly as we could, suggesting that our members switch to another provider with a fixed rate. While we value our members, we want what is best for their wallet and family even more, even if that means helping them switch away to our competitors. Their well being is more important than our bottom line.
Unfortunately, it looks like other providers are no longer excepting switches until later in the week. For those that did not switch over, we will still be here for you in any way we can help and continue to send you daily market updates.”
From Griddy’s website
To be clear, Griddy only profits off of the monthly membership cost, $9.99/month. The rise in prices is caused by ERCOT’s increase in power price with the high demand. At this time, it is uncertain if these two Mineral Wells residents will be responsible for these unbelievably high power bills. This is a problem many in the state of Texas are facing. When more updates come out, we will be updating this article to keep you informed.
Here is a link to Griddy’s updates on the situation.
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