But that is very simplistic, and it's not how it works." "I know, on the surface, it looks like - oh no, it's just money that generators got, and if you reverse it, it will go to the consumers. "And the results of going down this path are unknowable," he added.
And it's just nearly impossible to unscramble this sort of egg. "And they did all sorts of things that they wouldn't have done if the prices were different. "Decisions were made about these prices in real time based on information that was available to everybody, to all market participants," D'Andrea said. Potomac Economics calculated that the inflated electricity rate during that time period led to $16 billion in additional charges.īut D'Andrea and the PUC's other commissioner were reluctant to retroactively tamper with the pricing. The monitor, Potomac Economics, had urged the PUC to retroactively change prices for 32 hours around Feb. But according to the state's independent market monitor, prices were kept high for much longer than necessary. The PUC itself had authorized the wholesale price increase, hoping it would spur power companies to generate more electricity. And so it's dangerous, after something is run, to go around and redo it." You think you're protecting the consumer and turns out you're bankrupting a co-op or a city. "We just see the tip of the iceberg," D'Andrea said. But, he argued, that reflects a "simplistic" view of how Texas power markets work. It might seem like retroactively reducing the charges would be good for consumers, said Texas PUC Chairman Arthur D'Andrea during Friday's public meeting. But on Friday, the Public Utility Commission of Texas chose to let the charges stand. Texans facing those unexpected bills were hoping that Texas' utility regulator would retroactively reduce the electricity market prices. Companies passed those costs on to consumers. That's because for a period of 32 hours during the deepest freeze of February's winter storm, power companies were paying $9 per kilowatt-hour for electricity - about 75 times higher than the state's average winter costs. But after Texas suffered the worst winter storm in years, Marrs' February electricity bill totaled more than $10,000. In January, Dallas resident Shannon Marrs paid $257 for electricity.
The Public Utility Commission of Texas has declined to reverse $16 billion in charges from the worst of February's winter storm.
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