Houston Chronicle by Eric Dexheimer 3/28/2021
Bay City Gas utility manager Kevin Hecht placed his order for the city’s February supply of natural gas in mid-January. As always, his estimate for how much gas city residents would burn was based on their typical winter usage.
But February 2021 in Texas was anything but typical. With freezing temperatures lingering for days, residents of the small community between Houston and Corpus Christi — like many others across the state — needed more gas than usual, forcing Hecht to buy it on the open market.
Unfortunately, gas production facilities across the state were freezing up, reducing supply and sending gas prices rocketing off the charts. Hecht gasped when he received the city’s February bill.
The $4 million tab was 20 times higher than Bay City residents had ever paid for a month of natural gas. “It was basically the cost of five full years of gas for just that one month,†Hecht said.
In the wake of last month’s winter disaster, which nearly crashed the state’s power grid and killed more than 100 people, state lawmakers convened hearings to probe how a weeklong winter storm had crippled the state. They have proposed laws to prevent similar catastrophes in the future.
Meanwhile, staggeringly high bills for the storm are coming due.
More:
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas/article/It-s-insane-As-February-s-bills-16056554.php
