People in Texas getting electric bills for $17,000

The law in my area makes it so you can't put in a dwelling on your own property without the proper utility hook-ups, so along with your permit to build on your own property, you need to pay to get it inspected, up to codes and have to hook to the utility company that serves your address.

Now, once you have all that in order, you can live there and even put in some energy saving things like solar energy, or wood heating, but if your utility use goes too low, or stops because you now handle it, you still get to pay fees just for being hooked up.

Propane for heat, is not only expensive but few companies will fill your tank if you own it yourself, so you have to rent it from them. Also because your tank didn't get below 10% (they don't do partial fills) you didn't get a yearly fill up, the propane company will repo the tank, and any gas in it that you already paid for, if you don't pay a yearly rental fee for having the tank.

Let's say you use no electricity from the grid and buy no extra propane, you still end up paying around $500 to $600 a year for using nothing.

Here's the best part of all. If you generate all your own electricity and stop using the grid by having it shut off, you will be evicted from your own home because it will be condemned for occupation without the hook up. Even if you stayed hooked to the electric grid, didn't use the grid electricity, you are obligated to sell your excess energy to the utility in addition to the monthly hook up fees.

All this and property taxes too. Stop paying those and your property is taken by the state and sold after a year if not paid off. Of course, you wouldn't be able to afford the property taxes if you didn't live on the property. You have to pay much higher taxes for a "recreational" or other type of property you don't live on.

They make it so easy to own private property and become independent from the grid, don't they?

Prices like that will cause a new killdozer to happen.

Can someone please explain this.. If most homes in Texas lost power, surely the demand for power was at a hugely low level - state wide?
So even though the few homes may have used a little more power (who still had it) they are being charged on rates the power company wanted to sell at, but had no customers to buy it!?

So they ... *scratches head*... charge more when heaps of people want power, then charge moremore more when there's next to no customers.

Is that... right?

if so, thats just bs.

This would be a worthwhile protest in Texas. Torches and pitchforks if it isn't fixed. If the company doesn't want to provide relief and admit their mistake it's time to form them into a nonprofit cooperative. It works and works well in some areas.

OK, I think people here don't understand the multi-thousand dollar electric bills in Texas so here it is. These people contracted with an electric provider that charges a basic service fee and your actual electric rate is whatever is the wholesale price. The wholesale price goes up and down therefore the price these people pay has gone up and down. These are great plans if you want cheap electric rates BUT just like an adjustable rate mortgage, you can easily get burned. This is not a plan that most people would want because of the risk. That said, the company had plenty of subscribers all looking for that deal. Well guess what? That deal came to an end when supply issues came up. Just like every other thing, when supply is scarce, wholesale prices go up. These 'poor' people are not victims of price gouging, they are victims of being bad consumers and now they want a bail out because they failed to understand the volatility of what they signed up for.

originally posted by: Tempussolo
OK, I think people here don't understand the multi-thousand dollar electric bills in Texas so here it is. These people contracted with an electric provider that charges a basic service fee and your actual electric rate is whatever is the wholesale price. The wholesale price goes up and down therefore the price these people pay has gone up and down. These are great plans if you want cheap electric rates BUT just like an adjustable rate mortgage, you can easily get burned. This is not a plan that most people would want because of the risk. That said, the company had plenty of subscribers all looking for that deal. Well guess what? That deal came to an end when supply issues came up. Just like every other thing, when supply is scarce, wholesale prices go up. These 'poor' people are not victims of price gouging, they are victims of being bad consumers and now they want a bail out because they failed to understand the volatility of what they signed up for.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't adjustable rate mortgages capped?
If so, it would be the same.

originally posted by: Tempussolo
OK, I think people here don't understand the multi-thousand dollar electric bills in Texas so here it is. These people contracted with an electric provider that charges a basic service fee and your actual electric rate is whatever is the wholesale price. The wholesale price goes up and down therefore the price these people pay has gone up and down. These are great plans if you want cheap electric rates BUT just like an adjustable rate mortgage, you can easily get burned. This is not a plan that most people would want because of the risk. That said, the company had plenty of subscribers all looking for that deal. Well guess what? That deal came to an end when supply issues came up. Just like every other thing, when supply is scarce, wholesale prices go up. These 'poor' people are not victims of price gouging, they are victims of being bad consumers and now they want a bail out because they failed to understand the volatility of what they signed up for.

The lack of price caps is what makes it predatory. Given the supply/wholesale issue was driven by a winter storm, it wasn't like the homeowner can reasonably choose between freezing and cutting off electricity.

Yes, they took on risk with variable costs. However, no one is expecting that they'd get hit with a $17,000 bill for a few weeks of electricity.

If a homeowner is typically paying say $100 month and they know that under large demand or supply they might see a bill go up to $300, that is a risk worth taking is 9 out of 10 times you are paying say $75 instead of a $100. That is the scenario that was presented.... not yeah, your bill will now be $75 from teh $100 but if we have a once in a decade winter storm, your bill could go to $17,000.

originally posted by: JAGStorm

originally posted by: Tempussolo
OK, I think people here don't understand the multi-thousand dollar electric bills in Texas so here it is. These people contracted with an electric provider that charges a basic service fee and your actual electric rate is whatever is the wholesale price. The wholesale price goes up and down therefore the price these people pay has gone up and down. These are great plans if you want cheap electric rates BUT just like an adjustable rate mortgage, you can easily get burned. This is not a plan that most people would want because of the risk. That said, the company had plenty of subscribers all looking for that deal. Well guess what? That deal came to an end when supply issues came up. Just like every other thing, when supply is scarce, wholesale prices go up. These 'poor' people are not victims of price gouging, they are victims of being bad consumers and now they want a bail out because they failed to understand the volatility of what they signed up for.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't adjustable rate mortgages capped?
If so, it would be the same.

Yes, they have caps on the adjustments and it can only adjust so much in any given year regardless of the market for interest rates. Vast majority of ARMs are actually fixed for a period. For example, a 7 year ARM is actually fixed for 7 years. After the 7 years pass, the rate would adjust once per year. That adjustment is based on market at that time.

The thing is most people don't keep an ARM long enough to care as they refinance or move. That is why they are sold. Very few people keep arms during the period in which the rate is adjusting.