Part of the problem in power supply and demand everywhere, but which is becoming obvious in Texas, is that both demand and supply are inelastic. This means that small shifts in one or the other lead to huge price increases.
Electrical utilities need to keep the juice flowing, when they can. Blackouts and brownouts are part of that mix. But so is buying any power that's available on the spot market.
And in Texas, customers can choose fixed or variable rates for their electricity. Variable rates are generally lower, until they're not. There are now reports coming out of people getting bills for thousands of dollars in their monthly electricity bills as the power retailers recoup some of the high costs incurred for wholesale power this past week (where reports of prices 360 times normal were reported).
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