high power prices in texas, page-10

Some Texas customers use companies that charge wholesale rates.
Whoops. No hedging.

https://www.griddy.com/post/griddy-update-why-energy-prices-were-sky-high-this-week

At Griddy, transparency has always been our goal. We know you are angry and so are we. Pissed, in fact. Here’s what’s been going down:

On Monday evening the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) cited its “complete authority over ERCOT” to direct that ERCOT set pricing at $9/kWh until the grid could manage the outage situation after being ravaged by the freezing winter storm.

Under ERCOT's market rules, such a pricing scenario is only enforced when available generation is about to run out (they usually leave a cushion of around 1,000 MW). This is the energy market that Griddy was designed for – one that allows consumers the ability to plan their usage based on the highs and lows of wholesale energy and shift their usage to the cheapest time periods.

However, the PUCT changed the rules on Monday.

As of today (Thursday), 99% of homes have their power restored and available generation was well above the 1,000 MW cushion. Yet, the PUCT left the directive in place and continued to force prices to $9/kWh, approximately 300x higher than the normal wholesale price.

For a home that uses 2,000 kWh per month, prices at $9/kWh work out to over $640 per day in energy charges.
By comparison, that same household would typically pay $2 per day.