Texas attorney general sues power company

Electricity bills from last month’s devastating winter storm stunned many Texans. State Attorney General Ken Paxton said Monday he’s suing electricity provider Griddy for passing along massive expenses to its customers. Griddy insists it has been transparent “at every step.”

What happened? Griddy charges $10 a month to give customers a way to pay wholesale prices instead of a fixed rate. But during the historic winter freeze that left millions without power or water for days, wholesale electricity prices skyrocketed. Paxton said the company misled Texans into enrolling in services that cost some people thousands of dollars. The lawsuit seeks refunds for customers. The organization that oversees the state’s power grid, Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) shifted about 10,000 Griddy customers to other utilities. Meanwhile, the state’s largest and oldest power cooperative, Brazos, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, saying ERCOT sent it excessively high invoices in the wake of the frigid temperatures.

Dig deeper: Listen to the stories of WORLD staffers from Texas who weathered the storm.