Texas Power Company Seeks Bankruptcy After Racking Up A $2.1B Bill During Winter Storm
Texas power company Brazos Electric Power Cooperative, one of the state’s largest and oldest power firms, has filed for a Chapter 11 bankruptcy after racking up a $2.1 billion bill from the state’s power grid during last month’s fatal winter storm.
The firm serves 16 distribution member cooperatives which cater to more than 1.5 million Texans across 68 counties from the Texas Panhandle to Houston. On Monday (Mar. 1), they said that prior to the severe cold weather that hit the state between February 13 and 19, they were a “financially robust and stable company.” They said they received excessively high invoices (to be paid within days) from the Electric Reliability Council of Texas for collateral and for purported cost of electric service.
As we reported, due to the apocalyptic-like winter storm last month, over 29 million residents across the state experienced blackouts, leaving residents to manually start fires to keep warm and to heat water and food, and use their cars for heat — which sadly led to many deaths by carbon monoxide.
Speaking on the excessively high bills received, Clifton Karnei, executive vice president and general manager of Brazos, stated, “Let me emphasize that this action by Brazos Electric was necessary to protect its member cooperatives and their more than 1.5 million retail members from unaffordable electric bills as we continue to provide electric service throughout the court-supervised process.”