A view of a high-voltage transmission tower in Houston, Texas, on Feb. 21, 2021. The week before, Winter Storm Uri hit the state, leaving millions of people in the state without power and heat.
Last week, Texas was hit hard by a historic winter storm that left millions of people without power for days. In the aftermath of the storm, some people then received sky-high electricity bills. On Monday (Feb. 22), a utility customer in the state filed a $1 billion class action lawsuit against wholesale electricity retailer Griddy Energy LLC, accusing the company of “illegal price fixing.
Plaintiff Lisa Khoury, of Mont Belvieu, claims in the lawsuit that she receives a monthly electric bill from Griddy of about $200 to $250. However, from Feb. 13 to 18, the company automatically deducted $1,200 from her account; from Feb. 1 to 19, her bill totaled $9,546.
Corey said she complained to NetDee about the matter but never received a response. She eventually issued a stop payment order against the bank on Feb. 18 and filed a lawsuit in Harris County’s 133rd District Court “on behalf of all others similarly situated” seeking $1 billion in financial compensation.
“Nettie charged Cory in the disaster. From Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2021, through Thursday, Feb. 18, 2021, she and her husband were without power in their Home for most of the day. Cory hosted her Parents and in-laws, who were in their 80s, during the storm. Even then, she still minimized her electricity use because of the high cost of electricity.” The lawsuit explains.
The lawsuit accuses NetDee of violating the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act and seeks an injunction to prevent NetDee from continuing to issue high electricity bills to customers and to ensure that all such late or unpaid bills for affected customers are waived.
An Arlington man was shocked to receive a bill of more than $17,000 from NetDee in just five days.
The lawsuit states that NetDee’s wholesale prices spiked from $50/MWh before the storm to $9,000/MWh and alleges that NetDee told customers it was “seeking relief from utility regulators” after advising 29,000 customers to switch to other fixed-price providers.
The lawsuit says Cory switched suppliers on Feb. 19.
“NetDee knew that it was overcharging consumers, that consumers would be harmed, and that NetDee would be unjustly enriched by retaining customer payments,” the lawsuit concludes. The lawsuit concludes.
In Tuesday’s press release, Derek Potts, Cory’s attorney and principal of Potts Law Firm in Houston, said thousands of customers in the state could receive such bills and that a class action lawsuit would be “the most efficient and effective way for NetDee customers to unite against this predatory pricing.”
“This case is very important to our company. Because it allows us to represent the people of our state. They are now suffering from two natural disasters at once instead of one – the storm plus COVID-19 (a disease caused by the Chinese Communist virus).” Potts told Fox News on Wednesday.
Fox News reached out to Nettie and did not receive an immediate response.
However, in a statement to Reuters, a spokeswoman for the company said the lawsuit “has no merit” and placed the blame on the Public Utility Commission of Texas.
In a blog post on its website, the company said it was also “angry” about the price spike and vowed to fight it.
Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has pledged that cutting people’s bills will be a top priority. On Sunday, the state Public Utilities Commission moved to temporarily block electric companies from cutting off power to customers who don’t pay and from sending out bills and cost estimates.
“Soaring energy costs shouldn’t be borne by Texans.” Abbott tweeted.
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