Your Electric Bill Might Be Going Up Because of February's Storm

Remember February?

Michael J. Rivera/Townsquare Media

Yeah... with temperatures reaching 100 plus degrees the next few days, I'll be the first to admit I do kinda miss the snow and ice. But it looks like the aftermath is gonna stick around with us for a few years. Xcel Energy is looking to recover some of the costs of fuel with the major storm that hit the panhandle

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Customers on average are going to pay roughly $4 More over the next 2 years

Xcel Energy SPS filed with the Texas Public Utilities Commission to recover $76 Million in fuel costs from the February event. What makes the filing a little different is normally the PUC will allow recoveries like these to take place over the course of a 12 month period but the amount was so high, Xcel asked for a 24 month term. What it breaks down to is $3.84 per account.

It could have been much worse

SIphotography

Nobody likes letting go of more of their hard earned money than they need to. I gotta give Xcel some credit here, that 76 million dollar tag is pretty darn high. and in the filing the company did mention they did what they could to mitigate costs like purchasing out of state from it's sister company in Colorado which wasn't as effected as the out of control supply in Texas at the moment and relying on it's own reserves.

Xcel and the Amarillo are NOT part of the ERCOT Grid which suffered some pretty nasty billing spikes immediately afterwards with some customers getting bills in the 5 figure range. The request is still waiting approval from the Texas Public Utility Commission.

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