【美国日记】21.02.20 天价电费发威了！二选一：冻得要死！贵得要死！_风闻

天价电费已经开始征收了，2天的电费600美元！美国的国难财“真香”！真不愧是作为航空城所在地的德州，连电费也这么NASA，如火箭般上涨。

休斯顿-数百万的德克萨斯人仍然断电，有些已经有好几天了。

还有像萨凡纳·蒂格彭这样的人，他们有电。

她说，她一直在竭尽所能节约用电，但是在两天之后，她正在看着一张超过600美元的账单。

蒂格彭说：“在我星期二晚上上床睡觉之前，我收到了另外一笔通知，说那是负453美元。”

那是在周一支付近200美元之后。

蒂格彭独自一人住在休斯顿Spring Branch地区的一间单卧室的公寓里。

11月，她转到德克萨斯州的批发电力供应商Griddy。他们根据用户的个人用电量为客户收取市场价格。

她做出了尝试，以节省最后一分钱。和许多人一样，她因大流行而失业。

“他们实际上为我省了很多钱。我每千瓦支付5美分，而不是10和15美分。所以他们在星期天早上告诉我们，它可能升至每千瓦1至3美元，”蒂格彭说。

蒂格彭说，自从四个月前加入以来，她的账单从未超过50美元，这帮助她在这次COVID-19大流行中生存了下来。

德克萨斯州是一个自由市场，这意味着您可以选择由谁来为您的房屋供电。 Griddy的服务很简单，但并非没有风险。

在周日晚上的一次罕见的举动中，Griddy向所有29,000个客户发送了一封电子邮件，敦促他们改用其他提供商。蒂格彭说，她在周一早上尝试过，但没有一家公司接收新顾客。

蒂格彭说：“周日晚上，我们收到了一封电子邮件，通知我们电价正在上升，如果可以切换的话，可以这样做。但是那是周日，没有一个地方开放。”

她在家里没有将自己的恒温器调到的华氏60度以上。

蒂格彭说：“我只是预测我将必须为一周的电支付1000美元以上的费用。”

蒂格彭在社交媒体上联系了我们在休斯顿的姊妹电台ABC13，因为她说她知道自己并不是唯一面临这一严峻形势的人。

Griddy告诉客户，对于有账单的人，如果他们有未付款的账单，那么现在他们不会断电。蒂格彭说，现在她所能做的就是拭目以待。她希望自己的一些账单能被豁免，或者希望Griddy提供付款计划。她甚至不确定在这一点上切换到新的提供者是否具有经济意义。她说，她将不得不付费以建立新服务，而任何额外费用加上每月增加的金额只会增加她的债务。

我们联系了德克萨斯州的一些提供商。他们没有吸引顾客。有人说，当天气有所好转时，他们可能在下周三之前接受新客户。那是我们可以获得的最早的“也许”答案。

将来，选择电源供应商时您需要了解什么？

除非您可以承受能源价格的重大变化，否则请选择可以与您锁定一段时间的费率的提供商。

HOUSTON -- Millions of Texans are still without power, some for days now.

Then there are others like Savannah Thigpen, who has power.

She said she has been doing all she can to conserve, but after just two days of barely any use, she is looking at a bill over $600.

“Before I went to bed Tuesday night, I got another notification that it was a negative $453,” Thigpen said.

That was after paying nearly $200 on Monday.

Thigpen lives alone in a one-bedroom apartment in Houston’s Spring Branch area.

In November, she switched to Griddy, a Texas wholesale electricity provider. They charge market price for customers based on their personal kilowatt usage.

She made the switch trying to save every last cent. Like so many, she is out of work because of the pandemic.

“They actually save me a lot of money. I pretty much pay 5 cents per kilowatt instead of like the 10, the 15 cents. So they let us know on Sunday morning that it could go up to $1 to $3 per kilowatt,” Thigpen said.

Since joining four months ago, Thigpen says her bill has never been more than $50, which has helped her survive during this COVID-19 pandemic.

Texas is a free market, which means you get to choose who powers your home. Griddy’s service is simple, but not without risk.

In a rare move Sunday night, Griddy sent out an email to all 29,000 of its customers, urging them to switch to a different provider. Thigpen says she tried Monday morning, but no one was taking new customers.

“Sunday night we got the email letting us know it was going up and if we could switch, to do that. But it was Sunday, and none of the places were open,” Thigpen said.

She hasn’t moved her thermostat above 60 degrees Fahrenheit in her home.

“I am kind of predicting I am going to have to pay over $1,000 just for one week of electricity,” Thigpen said.

Thigpen reached out to our Houston sister station ABC13 on social media because she says she knows she is not the only one who is being faced with this tough situation.

Griddy told customers, for those who have it, right now they will not turn their power off if they have an unpaid bill. Thigpen said for now all she can do is wait and see. She is hoping some of her bill will be forgiven or that Griddy will provide a payment plan. She’s not even sure switching to a new provider at this point would make financial sense. She says she will have to pay to set up a new service and any additional fees, plus the increased monthly amount, would only add to her debt.

We reached out to a few providers here in Texas. They are not taking customers. Some say they may accept new customers by next Wednesday, when they say the weather has improved. That was the earliest ‘maybe’ answer we could get.

In the future, what do you need to know when choosing a power provider?

Unless you can shoulder significant shifts in the price of energy, choose a provider with whom you can lock in a rate for a period of time.