Elderly vet gets $16,752 power bill after Texas storm - another win for deregulation!

[Hood Critic]

How Texas’ Drive for Energy Independence Set It Up for Disaster

A whole lot of words, free market, some more words, privatization - even more words.

 

[Robbie3000]

This nikka slow af for actually paying that

Ain't no black person paying that bill.

 

[GnauzBookOfRhymes]

how much were these dikkheads actually saving by signing up for this special wholesale price?

I will preface this by saying that electrical/natural gas pricing "plans" can ABSOLUTELY make sense and save you TONS of money...IF you're talking about large scale industrial/commercial users. Back in my consulting days we had a client who was paying appx $18K a month for electricity. One of the first things i did was to shop around for suppliers and we were able to get a long term fixed rate contract (initially 3 yrs with option for add'l 3 yr renewal) for electricity at 5 cents. The savings on the electricity was close to 30% compared to the spot price (the higher your usage and the longer the contract term, the greater the potential discount). I'm absolutely certain the company renewed the electricity contract - which means they ended up saving $300K+ and possibly higher assuming their own usage increased).

But for residential plans, bc usage is so low, any "discount" you may get on the price will almost certainly be offset by a monthly service fee. And because most ppl, once they sign up for something almost inevitably forget about it, after the contract term has ended (and you threw away the letter explaining as such) they are either bumped into some new pricing plan or the original plan is renewed (depending on which is more profitable to the supplier).

 

[the cac mamba]

I will preface this by saying that electrical/natural gas pricing "plans" can ABSOLUTELY make sense and save you TONS of money...IF you're talking about large scale industrial/commercial users. Back in my consulting days we had a client who was paying appx $18K a month for electricity. One of the first things i did was to shop around for suppliers and we were able to get a long term fixed rate contract (initially 3 yrs with option for add'l 3 yr renewal) for electricity at 5 cents. The savings on the electricity was close to 30% compared to the spot price (the higher your usage and the longer the contract term, the greater the potential discount). I'm absolutely certain the company renewed the electricity contract - which means they ended up saving $300K+ and possibly higher assuming their own usage increased).

But for residential plans, bc usage is so low, any "discount" you may get on the price will almost certainly be offset by a monthly service fee. And because most ppl, once they sign up for something almost inevitably forget about it, after the contract term has ended (and you threw away the letter explaining as such) they are either bumped into some new pricing plan or the original plan is renewed (depending on which is more profitable to the supplier).

i mean they obviously should get some relief, but im also fine with them eating some of it

most people choose not to gamble on this, and they did the fukk is there to say?

 

[ThaBronxBully]

The Fact He Actually Depleted His Savings To Pay It Are You Crazy Son!? lol The Gov Will Figure It Out fukk You

What’s He Gonna Do When Next Months Bill Is 10k? Pay That Too?

 

[GnauzBookOfRhymes]

i mean they obviously should get some relief, but im also fine with them eating some of it

most people choose not to gamble on this, and they did the fukk is there to say?

Lol cold blooded.

The supplier is going to have to take some losses on this though.

Most ppl in this country can barely afford a $1,000 bill...no way they're paying $10K+

Ppl whose bills are on autopay better be paying attention!

 

[the cac mamba]

Lol cold blooded.

The supplier is going to have to take some losses on this though.

Most ppl in this country can barely afford a $1,000 bill...no way they're paying $10K+

Ppl whose bills are on autopay better be paying attention!

i guess im confused by dude actually paying it. he seems to be accepting that he fukked up in the article

 

[DEAD7]

At the cost of gubment intervention tho

So now you're on board

Disasters, pandemics, and other acts of god necessitate/require gov intervention, to reduce the associated human cost.

I see nothing wrong with gov intervention in these instances.

 

[DEAD7]

So where do you draw the line?

And if you can draw a line after the fact....then why not have that line already drawn in pre-existing regulation, rather than fukking people over and then making up for it weeks or months after the fact? Wouldn't this just throw the entire industry for a loop because no one knows what the real rules are or what the government will or will not "make up" later?

What if the company that did it only worked in predominantly Black communities? And what if it was a state like Mississippi or Arkansas, and when they saw what happened they replied like @Uncle Phil 36 and decided not to help the people out after all. You still think it's gravy?

You are posing a lot of what if under an already unprecedented occurrence.

Prior to this unprecedented assault from Mother Nature I believe the people of Texas were happy with their system(I could be wrong) and democratically voted in favor of it.

...either way, people need to go to jail. Ercot leadership and public officials.

 

[FaTaL]

well,

everything is bigger in texas

 

[Professor Emeritus]

That nikka slow af for actually paying that

Ain't no black person paying that bill.

i guess im confused by dude actually paying it. he seems to be accepting that he fukked up in the article

From what I understood in the article, the bill was on autopay to deduct from his credit card, then he had to deplete his savings to keep the interest on his credit card balance from going through the roof.

You are posing a lot of what if under an already unprecedented occurrence.

Prior to this unprecedented assault from Mother Nature I believe the people of Texas were happy with their system(I could be wrong) and democratically voted in favor of it.

...either way, people need to go to jail. Ercot leadership and public officials.

I will preface this by saying that electrical/natural gas pricing "plans" can ABSOLUTELY make sense and save you TONS of money...IF you're talking about large scale industrial/commercial users. Back in my consulting days we had a client who was paying appx $18K a month for electricity. One of the first things i did was to shop around for suppliers and we were able to get a long term fixed rate contract (initially 3 yrs with option for add'l 3 yr renewal) for electricity at 5 cents. The savings on the electricity was close to 30% compared to the spot price (the higher your usage and the longer the contract term, the greater the potential discount). I'm absolutely certain the company renewed the electricity contract - which means they ended up saving $300K+ and possibly higher assuming their own usage increased).

But for residential plans, bc usage is so low, any "discount" you may get on the price will almost certainly be offset by a monthly service fee. And because most ppl, once they sign up for something almost inevitably forget about it, after the contract term has ended (and you threw away the letter explaining as such) they are either bumped into some new pricing plan or the original plan is renewed (depending on which is more profitable to the supplier).

Gnauz hit it right on the money - it appears that generally, deregulation has been great for large corporate users who have the time and knowledge to chop around for the best plan for their large-use bills. While the typical resident doesn't have that same time or knowledge and ends up paying more.

It also appears that deregulation leads to a great deal more fluctuation than there would be otherwise, which is not ideal for the average consumer trying to budget.

"It's almost impossible to compare Offer A to Offer B and determine who's got the better deal for you," he says.

Jake Dyer, a policy analyst with Lloyd Gosselink Rochelle & Townsend, a law firm that represents a coalition of cities who are customers in the deregulated markets, says that between 2002 and 2008, the actual cost of electricity offered to residents by almost every company in competitive areas was higher on average than the cost of electricity nationally.

Rates in Texas, he says, were consistently below average for the 10 years before deregulation. (Dyer says that 2001, a year often cited by deregulation advocates, has an anomalous spike caused partly by the run-up to deregulation; Peacock of the Texas Public Policy Foundation counters that natural gas prices were a big factor in the spike.)

Last year, residential electricity rates for all of Texas — including both regulated and deregulated areas — were 17 percent above the national average.

Meanwhile, Texas manufacturers, which buy huge quantities of power and presumably command commensurate stroke in the market, say they are happy with deregulation. "The fact is that current power prices in the Texas electric market compare favorably to anywhere else in the country," said Luke Bellsnyder, the executive director of the Texas Association of Manufacturers, in a statement.

Both sides acknowledge that natural gas prices are a key factor in electricity rates; they soared in 2008, sending five electricity retailers out of business. Since then, gas prices have fallen by about two-thirds. Texas, where 42 percent of generation comes from natural gas (compared with 23 percent in the nation as a whole), has been in for an especially wild ride.

John Fainter, the president of the Association of Electric Companies of Texas, believes Texas should be compared to other gas-reliant states; New Mexico and Oklahoma, which have lower electricity rates than Texas, are both more coal-reliant, he says.

Argues Dyer: "Natural gas certainly explains some of the fluctuations we've seen in electricity prices in this state, as in other states — but it does not explain why our rates in Texas seem to be consistently higher."

Alternating Current

 

[Damba]

Charge it to the game.

 

[Professor Emeritus]

Family sues Texas power companies for $100m over death of boy, 11

 

[ADevilYouKhow]

Ted Cruz called for state energy regulation despite lauding Texas' lack of regulation 2 years ago

 

[Uncle Phil 36]

How would you know the risks? How the fukk is every single American supposed to understand every single line of the pages and pages of lawyer-produced fine print on their mortgages, health insurance plans, energy bills, work contracts, etc. if elite lawyers and actuaries are producing them and there's insufficient regulation regarding how they are written and what they do and do not have to disclose?

I mean, do you think there was a single line on that bill that said that energy bills could hit $2,000/day on a "bad day"? How would some random 63-year-old vet even go about figuring that out?

This is a country where paperwork gets so fukking complex that mortgage companies themselves didn't even know who owned the mortgages. They create a massive power imbalance by having entire teams of lawyers and actuaries producing shyt that's impossible for many people to understand, and then insisting that if you don't understand it you have to pay.

Have you ever read The Case for Reparations? This exact technique was used by powerful White folk to fukk over Black folk over and over and over again. You cool with that too?

Why are you assuming he's an idiot and can't read? A 63 year old isn't even that old. If he was in his late 70s, 80s, ok. But at 63, nah man. You have to deal with the consequences of what you sign.

If he can enjoy the benefits of the variable rate deal, he should have to accept when it doesn't work in their favor.

If you don't understand how it works, then go sign up for the fixed rate utility company