I refuse to believe that an $800+ electric bill is normal. Is this price gauging?

[Shell_Seas]

Even if I have higher usage, because of the amount of people in my house.

How is $800 justifiable? Is this because of the price gauging?

Link to tweet

[mucifer]

1. $400 is a normal winter gas bill for my 2 flat in Chicago. Two apartments

for one bill. The apartments are about 1000 square feet each plus there is a basement.

I am sure you are being gauged. I think I am, too.

[procon]

2. Blame your Texas Republicans who set up their

Private power grid to avoid federal regulations that accompany the natl grid system. Users are forced to pay whatever the market demands because the wealthy investors at the top are making a fortune.

[Wellstone ruled]

3. Welcome to the Kingdom of Texas.

Remember what the Texas GOP has said in the past,well,you know it is free enterprise. Don't have to use it.

[jpak]

4. The TX QOP adds insult to injury

Good luck with that!

You stupid fucktwits

[TwilightZone]

5. "Prices should reflect scarcity"

It would seem that's what they're doing. The total charge is presumably based on usage and companies sometimes have scaled rates based on availability and usage, similar to tiered tax rates. As usage grows, the charge per unit rises.

If it seems excessive, contact the utility for an explanation and a breakdown. That being said, we're on pace to have about triple our normal usage for this time of year (in Austin) and it's not surprising considering that it hasn't been this cold for this long in decades.

[Susan Calvin]

6. I have a year contract at a stated rate per kilowatt hour.

Of course I'm using a lot more kilowatt hours, but are you saying they can find a way to tack on additional charges above that?

[matt819]

7. There's no price gouging

Price per kWh is the same. The increased cost reflects expected increased usage. Happens with AC usage in the summer and heating in the winter.

The Texas utilities may be responsible for the power outages and a failure to winterize and make other such improvements. The Texas government may be responsible for not promoting sustainable power alternatives.

Based on this graphic, they are not responsible (yet?) for price gouging.

[calguy]

8. This is what de-regulation can do for you.

[Squinch]

9. Privatization solves everything.

[whopis01]

10. That is a huge amount of power usage for a month

The average residential consumption is 877 kWh per month.

It is higher in Texas, with the average at 1176 kWh per month. But even that puts you between 4.75 and 5.3 times the average.

Is that a normal bill for you? Are you sure there isn't something wrong with the meter?

Just comparing rough prices, that looks like about 13.6 cents / kWh which is right about what I pay in Florida - so it seems more like high usage rather than gouging. At least high usage reported by the meter.

[Shell_Seas]

11. We do have an above average usage.

There are 7 people in my house. A normal bill is between 3,000 to 4,000 kwh, which during the winter averages about $400/month.