Ivet Cantu, 45, points to her electricity bill from Griddy energy on an app showing her energy cost of $3,114.27, during recent severe cold weather outside of her home in Dallas, on Friday, Feb. 19, 2021. In Texas’ deregulated electricity market, Griddy and some other power suppliers charge customers wholesale variable rates per kilowatt-hour. (Ben Torres/The Dallas Morning News via AP)
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas' attorney general said Monday he's suing electricity provider Griddy for passing along massive bills to its customers during last month's winter storm.
The lawsuit comes days after Texas' power grid manager effectively shut down Griddy by revoking its access to the state's electricity market.
Griddy charges $10 a month to give people a way to pay wholesale prices for electricity instead of a fixed rate. But when temperatures plummeted well below freezing last month, wholesale prices spiked and Griddy customers were left with sky-high electricity bills.
“Griddy misled Texans and signed them up for services which, in a time of crisis, resulted in individual Texans each losing thousands of dollars," Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a statement. “As Texans struggled to survive this winter storm, Griddy made the suffering even worse as it debited outrageous amounts each day.”
The lawsuit accused Griddy of violating the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act and seeks refunds for customers. The unusually heavy winter storm blanketed much of Texas with snow, knocking out electricity to 4 million customers and leaving many struggling to find clean water.
Meanwhile, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, or ERCOT, shifted about 10,000 Griddy customers to other utilities on Friday.
Griddy said in a statement that ERCOT “took our members and have effectively shut down Griddy.”
“We have always been transparent and customer-centric at every step. We wanted to continue the fight for our members to get relief and that hasn’t changed,” the statement said.
7 Cryptocurrencies That Are Leading The Market HigherAn Influx Of Capital Is Driving Cryptocurrency Higher
There is an influx of money to the cryptocurrency market that is driving the entire complex higher. Not only is institutional interest peaking but recognition and use are on the rise as well. With Bitcoin setting new all-time highs 100% above the 2017 highs the number of new Bitcoin millionaires is on the rise too.
But Bitcoin is not the only cryptocurrency on the market today by far. The number of cryptocurrencies on the market has been growing steadily with more than 4,000 listed on Coinmarketcap alone. But that doesn’t mean they are all worth your time. Many if not most will not stand the test of time.
One way to judge the market’s interest in a cryptocurrency is its market performance gains. A cryptocurrency that is gaining in value is certainly one that you may want to own. The better method of judging the market’s interest in a cryptocurrency is the market cap. The cryptocurrency market is worth upwards of $1 trillion and growing, and most of that value is centered in the top seven. Together, the bottom 3,993 odd cryptocurrencies only account for 12% of the market and have yet to prove any lasting value.
View the "7 Cryptocurrencies That Are Leading The Market Higher".
