{"id":51114,"date":"2021-06-28T13:50:06","date_gmt":"2021-06-28T03:20:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/?p=51114"},"modified":"2025-12-18T14:29:55","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T04:59:55","slug":"texas-electricity-heatwave","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/texas-electricity-heatwave\/","title":{"rendered":"Texans Get Screwed Over By Electricity Retailers In Heatwave"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Texas

Texas provides a great example of how not to treat electricity consumers during a heatwave.<\/p><\/div>\r\n

Last week Texas suffered through a stinking hot heatwave.<\/p>\r\n

And just like the polar vortex five months ago, we saw an excellent example of villainous electricity retailer behaviour we must never allow in Australia. <\/p>\r\n

In January when Texans were freezing to death, some people were signed up to electricity plans without realising they were committing to paying wholesale electricity prices. In the middle of a blizzard, these rose to over AUD $11 per kilowatt-hour.\u00a0 Some households received electricity bills for thousands of US dollars in one month.\u00a0 I wrote about this mess here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

We have electricity plans that expose households to wholesale prices in Australia, but they come with a safety feature protecting homes from unexpectedly huge power bills.\u00a0 The Texan plans didn’t have any such safety measure.<\/p>\r\n

The retailers’ behaviour in the heatwave isn’t as bad.\u00a0 No one’s being put in a dangerous situation or receiving ridiculously high electricity bills.\u00a0 Instead, the problem is people are having their air conditioner thermostat increased remotely during a heatwave.\u00a0 The news reports<\/a> exaggerate the discomfort that resulted.<\/p>\r\n