Quote:

---

I agree to an extent, but at minimum it's absolutely craptastic customer service to not let customers know when prices are spiking + by how much so that they can adjust their behaviors accordingly. That's the key gripe with a lot of this. I'm all for letting responsible adults weigh their options + make decisions, but the opacity with a lot of this BS was almost total. That is, it was very difficult for customers to get ahold of the data they needed to make informed decisions.

---

What data did you lack? What else should they have done?

This is pretty weak.

You should also kick her in the ***** for not switching prior to this. Most variable rate providers were telling their customers to leave so they wouldn't get hit with that kind of bill.

there was guy that I think works for Griddy on Houston board sounding the alarm bells.

Like mentioned above you got a taste of this in August.

If you don't like day trading in electricity you shouldn't have signed up for something like griddy.

Consumer choice was part of this, now people don't like the choices they made.

So much stupid in this thread. Gosh, TexAgs used to know stuff.

Tanya, to answer your question. NO not everyone in Texas gets to pick their plan. Some cities, Bryan and College Station for example use municipal power companies and have chosen, as allowed by law, to not open up to competition. Residents served by folks like BTU and College Station Utilities only have those options.

However as shown in a post near the top, you can read the email sent out by BTU. Their rates are set by the city council and will not raise.

If you live in an area that is dergulated, you have your choice of electric service providers. In those areas there are literally hundreds of plans to choose from. Fixed rate, variable, market based, indexed to fuel costs (usually NG price), wind only (costs more for a subsidized product), tiered, etc. Hundreds...

HTownAg98 said:

---

If you're on a city owned utility like Austin Energy or CPS (San Antonio), you can't get another retail provider. I'm almost positive those muni utilities are fixed rate plans.

---

I was unaware any munis in Texas had such control still. I checked an Austin zipcode for myself and powertochoose search results return this: No plans found. Your zip code may not be in a service area open to competition.

Good info, thanks.

HTownAg98 said:

---

If you're on a city owned utility like Austin Energy or CPS (San Antonio), you can't get another retail provider. I'm almost positive those muni utilities are fixed rate plans.

---

Yes I was going to say in SA you have no option besides CPS, but they are fixed rate and rates tend to be on the lower side of Texas so we can't complain too much. Their executive leadership did show their ass to everyone this week with their bungled press conference of dodging questions and speaking in circles.

Deputy Travis Junior said:

---

Ol_Ag_02 said:

---

Be a responsible adult. No one forced you to get a variable rate plan to start with. You did it to save a few bucks with the hope the rates stayed low. You gambled and lost. Pay your debts like a man.

These are the same people that won't get home insurance then cry until they get bailed out but the government; i.e. taxpayers like me.

---

I agree to an extent, but at minimum it's absolutely craptastic customer service to not let customers know when prices are spiking + by how much so that they can adjust their behaviors accordingly. That's the key gripe with a lot of this. I'm all for letting responsible adults weigh their options + make decisions, but the opacity with a lot of this BS was almost total. That is, it was very difficult for customers to get ahold of the data they needed to make informed decisions.

---

I don't disagree but should they similarly inform customers when prices are falling drastically so they can adjust behaviors?

Kenneth_2003 said:

---

So much stupid in this thread. Gosh, TexAgs used to know stuff.

Tanya, to answer your question. NO not everyone in Texas gets to pick their plan. Some cities, Bryan and College Station for example use municipal power companies and have chosen, as allowed by law, to not open up to competition. Residents served by folks like BTU and College Station Utilities only have those options.

However as shown in a post near the top, you can read the email sent out by BTU. Their rates are set by the city council and will not raise.

If you live in an area that is dergulated, you have your choice of electric service providers. In those areas there are literally hundreds of plans to choose from. Fixed rate, variable, market based, indexed to fuel costs (usually NG price), wind only (costs more for a subsidized product), tiered, etc. Hundreds...

---

Thank you

I haven't had electricity bills in Texas since 2014 after we sold the house.

I just wasn't sure what had been happening in the time since then because I only ever had electricity bills I had to pay in Bryan or CS.

Ol_Ag_02 said:

---

rgag12 said:

---

Ol_Ag_02 said:

---

People who took the cheap way out with a variable rate to start are now whining when their luck runs out.

They should have to pay.

---

Yea those suckers that have to use the only energy company in town, and have that energy company pass on the 16,000% spike in natural gas to them deserve everything that's coming to them!

---

Be a responsible adult. No one forced you to get a variable rate plan to start with. You did it to save a few bucks with the hope the rates stayed low. You gambled and lost. Pay your debts like a man.

These are the same people that won't get home insurance then cry until they get bailed out but the government; i.e. taxpayers like me.

---

For the record I'm not one of those people you are talking about. Never heard of such a plan and am not on one.

However energy companies are passing on the costs of natural gas down to their customers even if they aren't on one of these plans. Look up CPS in San antonio

My brother lives in porter and has ONLY Entergy to choose from. Entergy is part of the US eastern grid and I don't think he has "The Power to Choose"...

Seems like Entergy passes on fuel costs directly and then has some fees in addition. They could be charging more for the fuel prices that spike during the outage...

He's concerned he's gonna get hit hard with a big bill

Deputy Travis Junior said:

---

Ol_Ag_02 said:

---

Be a responsible adult. No one forced you to get a variable rate plan to start with. You did it to save a few bucks with the hope the rates stayed low. You gambled and lost. Pay your debts like a man.

These are the same people that won't get home insurance then cry until they get bailed out but the government; i.e. taxpayers like me.

---

I agree to an extent, but at minimum it's absolutely craptastic customer service to not let customers know when prices are spiking + by how much so that they can adjust their behaviors accordingly. That's the key gripe with a lot of this. I'm all for letting responsible adults weigh their options + make decisions, but the opacity with a lot of this BS was almost total. That is, it was very difficult for customers to get ahold of the data they needed to make informed decisions.

---

Griddy contacted people and told them to get out. What else do you people want?

What happened to expecting adults to think for themselves?

The only ones that might have a case are the ones who were punted to Provider of Last Resort. That plan CAN be variable. Texas has already stepped in and negotiated with TXU to put them on competitive fixed rate plans.

Going off of your posts offer the past week or so, you follow power and energy closely and understand the vocabulary and calculations very well. The rest of the world isn't in the same boat. For them (hell, us), a simple form email to customers that said something like "hey, prices are expected to spike by as much as 10x, meaning your daily bills could go up by the same percentage. Track prices here (insert website link). Going off your usage, your bill could look like this." that's it. Now usage is a more informed decision.

(I'd also note here that tracking power prices during blackouts isn't easy. I have a 4 year old phone with a **** battery; keeping my phone charged was a major challenge during a 4 day blackout.)

Also, the hilariously bad management and randomness of the rolling blackouts took away a lot of choice because people had no idea what their power schedule looked like. To give a real example, I probably got 1 hour of power in nearly 4 days, which hit at like 2am Wednesday morning. Power was off when I went to bed, I rolled over and woke up at ~2 and we had some power, and it was off again when I woke up. My bill for that ~1 hour of heating, which I didn't even really opt into because they turned it on in the middle of the night when I wasn't expecting it, was around $30!

I guess you can say that I should have anticipated that the power company might turn my power back on and set everything to off, but I think you can agree that this is getting a bit loan sharky.

Overall my bill will probably only be 75-100 higher so I got off easy, but if they'd done a few more midnight power blasts, I easily could have hit am extra 200+.

Quote:

---

The rest of the world isn't in the same boat. For them (hell, us), a simple form email to customers that said something like "hey, prices are expected to spike by as much as 10x, meaning your daily bills could go up by the same percentage. Track prices here (insert website link). Going off your usage, your bill could look like this." that's it. Now usage is a more informed decision.

---

They did

Ol_Ag_02 said:

---

Tanya 93 said:

---

Ol_Ag_02 said:

---

Tanya 93 said:

---

Ol_Ag_02 said:

---

People who took the cheap way out with a variable rate to start are now whining when their luck runs out.

They should have to pay.

---

does every electricity user have the ability to lock in a rate?

Every single one?

---

Every time I search for a new energy plan there are dozens of options, and several with each provider, fixed and variable.

Find me evidence that these people didn't just want to save a few bucks and were forced to get a variable rate plan.

Until then, bleeding heart liberals gonna bleed.

---

I never had the option of other providers in Bryan, TX

that is why I asking

But of course you know all people have that option

So cool

---

I highly doubt that. I just found five fixed rate plans in Bryan Texas just now.

You don't know what you're talking about.

---

We got nothing like that, but I'm glad to hear some other people did.

My gas bill was only 60$ so that was cool

Deputy Travis Junior said:

---

We got nothing like that, but I'm glad to hear some other people did.

---

This actually surprises me and I apologize for assuming you meant Griddy because I know they did. Maybe check your spam filter? I know there's any number of things you can lapse on and get tagged for a huge bill, but hopefully with a forecast like this everyone on a variable rate plan was given decent warning.

rgag12 said:

---

Ol_Ag_02 said:

---

People who took the cheap way out with a variable rate to start are now whining when their luck runs out.

They should have to pay.

---

Yea those suckers that have to use the only energy company in town, and have that energy company pass on the 16,000% spike in natural gas to them deserve everything that's coming to them!

---

I was not aware some customers only could use one energy company. That is awful and seems very unethical if that company only offers a variable rate plan.

richardag said:

---

rgag12 said:

---

Ol_Ag_02 said:

---

People who took the cheap way out with a variable rate to start are now whining when their luck runs out.

They should have to pay.

---

Yea those suckers that have to use the only energy company in town, and have that energy company pass on the 16,000% spike in natural gas to them deserve everything that's coming to them!

---

I was not aware some customers only could use one energy company. That is awful and seems very unethical if that company only offers a variable rate plan.

---

I don't think the two bolded statements are true together.

Yes, there are some folks who don't have multiple options, but they aren't forced into variable rate options.

96ags said:

---

richardag said:

---

rgag12 said:

---

Ol_Ag_02 said:

---

People who took the cheap way out with a variable rate to start are now whining when their luck runs out.

They should have to pay.

---

Yea those suckers that have to use the only energy company in town, and have that energy company pass on the 16,000% spike in natural gas to them deserve everything that's coming to them!

---

I was not aware some customers only could use one energy company. That is awful and seems very unethical if that company only offers a variable rate plan.

---

I don't think the two bolded statements are true together.

Yes, there are some folks who don't have multiple options, but they aren't forced into variable rate options.

---

Thanks for the reply.

Be interesting to see how some of the rural co-ops handle this, seeing that they're member owned and the consumers are the co-op members.

Faustus said:

---

Wife handles the utilities/bills/groceries. She's self-employed and works from home a couple of days a week, and the rest of the time runs the household.

I never in a million years thought she'd sign up for a variable rate plan anymore than we'd sign on for an adjustable rate mortgage.

I was wrong and she had us on Griddy. $3.3k for the electric bill.
We're no longer on Griddy and she no longer has autonomy in that area of our finances.

---

Holy crap. However, I've read you won't really have to pay that full amount, but is that true?

Yea I wasn't on griddy, so probably my fault for not reading the OP or some other post closely enough (where giddy was mentioned).

I honestly got off easy and am not worried about an extra 50-75 bucks (or helps that my house is really small). Plus, I get that power was more expensive to produce during that time and am fine paying for it. Not looking for a handout. That said, my power company did a horrific job providing notice and they were a total black box when I tried to find out when they'd be turning our power on and off. It was also really difficult to track details like power prices when my phone was dead.

So I understand and have some sympathy for people who are now staring at extra charges. if you're not an engineer who's familiar with these terms, and your power company didn't make much/any effort to help keep you informed, and you have a good sized house, you could get into trouble without meaning to.

Tanya 93 said:

---

Ol_Ag_02 said:

---

People who took the cheap way out with a variable rate to start are now whining when their luck runs out.

They should have to pay.

---

does every electricity user have the ability to lock in a rate?

Every single one?

---

In Texas, yes. That's not the case in every state though.

Ol_Ag_02 said:

---

Tanya 93 said:

---

Ol_Ag_02 said:

---

Tanya 93 said:

---

Ol_Ag_02 said:

---

People who took the cheap way out with a variable rate to start are now whining when their luck runs out.

They should have to pay.

---

does every electricity user have the ability to lock in a rate?

Every single one?

---

Every time I search for a new energy plan there are dozens of options, and several with each provider, fixed and variable.

Find me evidence that these people didn't just want to save a few bucks and were forced to get a variable rate plan.

Until then, bleeding heart liberals gonna bleed.

---

I never had the option of other providers in Bryan, TX

that is why I asking

But of course you know all people have that option

So cool

---

I highly doubt that. I just found five fixed rate plans in Bryan Texas just now.

You don't know what you're talking about.

---

No you didn't. If you live in the city of Bryan you cannot choose another provider. BTU is a sole provider and their price/kWH is fixed by the city council. You can cost average your bill if you want.

96ags said:

---

richardag said:

---

rgag12 said:

---

Ol_Ag_02 said:

---

People who took the cheap way out with a variable rate to start are now whining when their luck runs out.

They should have to pay.

---

Yea those suckers that have to use the only energy company in town, and have that energy company pass on the 16,000% spike in natural gas to them deserve everything that's coming to them!

---

I was not aware some customers only could use one energy company. That is awful and seems very unethical if that company only offers a variable rate plan.

---

I don't think the two bolded statements are true together.

Yes, there are some folks who don't have multiple options, but they aren't forced into variable rate options.

---

This is correct

Griddy sent a note 2/11 recommending people switch away from them based upon what was coming. I found a month to month plan that they listed among options, no switch/cancellation fees.

They also sent a note 2/1 that they will have a Price Protection plan beginning 3/1.

When things stabilize, I'm sure many of us will be shopping for a provider again, or maybe switching back to Griddy or a similar group.

Ginormus Ag said:

---

Faustus said:

---

It's a card that I will keep in my pocket next time she wants to blow up at me about something though. An expensive get out of jail free card if you will.

---

You think that card exists?

Here's some news for you. She already has a card that will trump that card. Not only will it trump that card, she will turn that get out of jail card on you somehow.

---

Or maybe he has a better wife than you do.

PSA for Tanya and whoever else seems to be confused by this (there are a lot out there, just maybe not in this particular thread):

[Fixed rate plan/variable rate plan] is not the same thing as [balanced billing/pay your monthly bill billing].

I assume his wife is a woman. That's how they operate.

Mathguy64 said:

---

Ol_Ag_02 said:

---

Tanya 93 said:

---

Ol_Ag_02 said:

---

Tanya 93 said:

---

Ol_Ag_02 said:

---

People who took the cheap way out with a variable rate to start are now whining when their luck runs out.

They should have to pay.

---

does every electricity user have the ability to lock in a rate?

Every single one?

---

Every time I search for a new energy plan there are dozens of options, and several with each provider, fixed and variable.

Find me evidence that these people didn't just want to save a few bucks and were forced to get a variable rate plan.

Until then, bleeding heart liberals gonna bleed.

---

I never had the option of other providers in Bryan, TX

that is why I asking

But of course you know all people have that option

So cool

---

I highly doubt that. I just found five fixed rate plans in Bryan Texas just now.

You don't know what you're talking about.

---

No you didn't. If you live in the city of Bryan you cannot choose another provider. BTU is a sole provider and their price/kWH is fixed by the city council. You can cost average your bill if you want.

---

But that's not what she asked. She asked if everyone in Texas has the option to have a fixed rate for their energy price for a given period of time. By law in Texas, energy prices regulated by the city cannot be adjusted on a monthly basis. So functionally, your price is fixed for a given period of time. And NOBODY is forced into a variable rate plan, which is entirely unique from what is being discussed regarding B/CS energy providers.

But all of that work should be done by the consumer. If you're on a variable rate plan, you had better know how much the rate could vary and how much you might use. That's not on the vendor to decide. Ignorance is expensive, but it is nobody's responsibility to educate you.

Even if you don't want to do that kind of analysis yourself, there are services that give you that kind of outlook - Energy Ogre gives me a month ahead estimate of prices based on my past usage.

I agree that the blackout management was a joke, but I don't really get how the cost of electricity you actually used is a problem. You chose a variable rate plan. No one made you do that. It's not anyone's problem that you did that - it probably saved you money over time. Yeah, during this event you were stuck in a rock and a hard place.

I'm not singling you out in particular, so forgive me if it sounds harsh. It just seems like folks want all the upside of taking on more risk (lower prices when demand is low) and none of the downside. If they get bailed out, people like me who have fixed rate plans paid more on average for no reason. That's rewarding irresponsibility.