TEXAS, USA — A year after the winter storm of 2021 and you might notice your electricity bill is going up. Jordan Galjour is bracing for it.
“I think that’s a fear for everybody because a lot of money was lost during the storm,” said Galjour. “A lot of energy companies have to recoup that money now.”
Galjour uses an electricity management company called Energy Ogre. The company’s CEO, Jesson Bradshaw, has tracked prices for the past year.
"We’re definitely seeing numbers up a little bit more than certainly, significantly more than before the freeze,” he said.
But why are consumers footing the bill?
“The government decided that the corporations didn’t have to bear the brunt of that,” KHOU 11 Energy Expert Ed Hirs explained. Hirs has seen prices jump as much as 25 percent. "They decided that the consumer should bear the brunt of that.”
In an interview with KHOU 11 Investigative Reporter Jeremy Rogalski, the chairman of the Public Utility Commission of Texas explains the hike.
“Initially, we may have higher prices as we procure more robust, reliable generation,” said chairman Kevin Lake. “But over time, as we increase reliability, we have a greater that those higher revenues as economic incentives for reliability bring more reliable assets to the market. And as that supply balances out prices will go down over time.”
As for Galjour, it’s a game of wait and see.
“Right now we’re paying about .09 cents a kilowatt,” Galjour said.
But with his renewal set for next month, rates are guaranteed to be up.