Those in Texas who signed on as wholesale buyers of electricity, prior to the recent winter blast, opted to do so when sales pitches promised lower bills. That held true for many of them, until Mother Nature hit hard at the Lone Star State.
Go-Griddy is the name of one of those wholesale suppliers in a deregulated environment.
Instead of staying as fixed-rate customers with other electric suppliers, many of these people opted to sign on with variable rates with Go-Griddy. Sadly, those customers learned the hard way.
As an example, one Go-Griddy customer whose monthly bill averaged $150 received an electric bill for more than $3,000 after the winter blast. The money was taken directly from his bank account.
It was tough times when the company experienced going from $50 per megawatt-hour (wholesale rate) to $9,000 per megawatt-hour. Those excess charges were passed along to Go-Griddy customers.
Here in Otter Tail County many consumers of electricity have expressed their appreciation for being customers of reliable suppliers such as Fergus Falls-based Otter Tail Power Company and Pelican Rapids-based Lake Region Electric Cooperative.
Texas officials dropped the ball
A decade ago, in February 2011, frigid temperatures caused natural gas wells in Texas to freeze up, cutting off a major source of electricity to consumers in Texas. Problems back then were not as severe as in February 2021, but warning signs to make necessary changes went unheeded.
What should have been done in the years following 2011, but were not done, included better protection from low temperatures at wells, pipelines and power plants.
This year equipment at Texas coal plants froze, a nuclear plant tripped offline because of frozen equipment, there were failures at natural gas plants and the severe cold adversely affected wind turbines and solar panels.
“Every one of our sources of power supply underperformed,” said Daniel Cohan, professor of civil and environmental engineering at Rice University in Houston.
Enforcement of needed changes, which will be costly, is the responsibility of the Public Utility Commission of Texas.
In the meantime, Texas officials have turned to Washington for federal assistance to help with repairs to homes and businesses which will be enormous. Replacing broken water pipes could take several weeks.
Add in other cleanup costs and the price tag is estimated at close to $50 billion.
Governmental officials from around the nation are demanding that Texas also use some of its $13 billion rainy day fund.
“Texas officials dropped the ball in 2011 and didn’t make the needed changes,” said one official. “Now they can pay the piper.”
Remembering Karleen Wollmering
I am among many former students of Our Lady of Victory (OLV) School in Fergus Falls who had Karleen Wollmering as a seventh-grade teacher. She was 85 when she died Feb. 9 in Red Wing.
In the early 1960s Karleen, who later lived in Goodhue south of Red Wing, was the only lay teacher among seven nuns. OLV school operated from grades one through eight until 1968.
“I remember Miss Wollmering fondly as a caring and enthusiastic teacher,” said Kathy Scheidecker Warn, a retiree in the Twin Cities who herself became a teacher.
In recent years Karleen remained close to former OLV principal and eighth grade teacher Sister Adela Gross, in the 1960s known as Sister Mary Peter.
It was in Goodhue where Karleen taught English, became a school librarian and married Dave Franklin, an Irish mailman.
In 2008 Karleen was featured in a Goodhue publication, which began, “If something needs to be done, ask a busy person. In Goodhue, that person is Karleen Franklin.”
She authored a book for the county museum and wrote another book about the 2003 Holy Trinity Church centennial. She was the charter president of the Goodhue Lioness Club.
Karleen was most happy when former students would simply say, “Thank you.”
Tom Hintgen is a longtime Daily Journal columnist. His column appears in the Weekend Edition.