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A Texas utility customer affected by the state’s devastating winter storms this month filed a billion-dollar class action lawsuit on Monday against wholesale electricity retailer Griddy Energy LLC, accusing the company of ” illegal price fraud ”.
Complainant Lisa Khoury of Mont Belvieu alleges in lawsuit that if her monthly electricity bills from Griddy were around $ 200 to $ 250, the company automatically withdrew $ 1,200 from February 13 to 18 and her entire bill was $ 9,546 from February 1 to 19. .
TEXAS RESIDENT ALMOST $ 17,000 DEDUCTED FROM BANK ACCOUNT BY ENERGY COMPANY FOLLOWING WINTER STORM
Khoury claimed that she expressed concern about withdrawals and bad checks to Griddy, but never received a response from the company and ultimately placed a suspension of payment order with her bank on February 18.
The lawsuit, which was filed in the 133rd Harris County District Court “on behalf of everyone else in a similar situation”, seeks $ 1 billion in monetary relief.
Further, the lawsuit charges Griddy with violations of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act and seeks an injunction to prevent Griddy from charging and collecting payment for excessive prices and to provide forgiveness for any late or unpaid invoices from affected customers.
Griddy blamed Khoury in the midst of a disaster. She and her husband were mostly without electricity at their home from Wednesday February 17, 2021 until Thursday February 18, 2021. At the same time, Khoury welcomed her parents and in-laws ., who are 80 years old, during the storm. Even then, she continued to minimize all energy use because of the high prices, “says the costume.
They noted that Gritty’s wholesale rate was $ 9,000 per megawatt hour compared to the pre-storm rate of $ 50 per megawatt hour, and said Griddy told customers he was “seeking relief from regulators. utilities “after advising 29,000 customers to switch to another provider with a fixed rate.
MILLIONS IN TEXAS ARE FACING WATER-RELATED PROBLEMS AS THE STATE IS STILL BEGINNING FROM THE EFFECTS OF THE DEAD WINTER STORM
Khoury was able to switch suppliers on February 19, depending on the costume.
“Griddy knew he was overcharging consumers, that consumers would be harmed, and Griddy would be unjustly enriched by keeping customer payments,” he concludes.
An Arlington man was stunned to receive a bill for over $ 17,000 from Griddy in just five days.
In a Tuesday statement, Khoury’s attorney Derek Potts – who runs the Potts law firm in Houston – said thousands of clients had likely received the invoices and the class action would be “the most effective way. and most effective for Griddy’s customers to come together and fight those predatory prices. “
“The case is extremely important to the company because it allows us to represent the people of our state who have now suffered not one but two natural disasters at the same time, the storm and COVID-19,” Potts told Fox News Wednesday.
“What happened financially to all of Griddy’s customers both in terms of the sky-high prices charged and the way they were collected from people’s bank accounts and credit cards literally in the middle of a disaster as many were without electricity, heat, and water, clearly against Texas laws in place to protect consumers, ”he said.
Fox News contacted Griddy but did not immediately receive a response.
However, in a statement to Reuters, a spokesperson said the lawsuit was “without merit”, placing the blame on the Texas Public Utility Commission.
On its website, the company wrote in a blog post that “transparency” had always been her goal and that she too was “nervous”. The company is committed to fighting prices.
Wholesale market prices have hit a state-imposed cap in response to growing demand, according to FOX 7 Austin.
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An order from the utilities commission said that “energy prices should reflect [the] scarcity of supply. “
Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has vowed cutting bills will be a top priority. On Sunday, the state’s utilities commission acted to temporarily prevent electric companies from cutting power to non-paying customers and sending bills and cost estimates.
“Texans shouldn’t have to deal with rising energy costs,” he said. tweeted.
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