The high price of energy raises concerns about the next CPS Energy bill

San Antonio – Power may have been limited this week for CPS customers, but it’s likely to be expensive as well.

Now that the electricity reliability crisis is over, CPS Energy CEO Paula Gold-Williams says accessibility issues are due to high cold fuel costs. Utility is still trying to calculate the cost of the event, Gold-Williams said, but “it will be huge” and trying to minimize the impact on customer bills.

“I will say that we understand that it would be unacceptable for customers to bear the cost of the monthly bill and as if someone could pay for it,” Gold-Williams said. “So we work hard – the financial services team works hard, trying to find ways to really spread that cost, you probably know 15 – I mean, 10 years or more to try to make it affordable. We do not have this fully evaluated. ”

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Gold-Williams told reporters in a briefing on Monday that supply and demand are working largely during the cold weather, which has hit many offline generating units across the country and frozen the heads of natural gas wells.

“We could see from the beginning of this event – just before Monday’s editions – that the price of energy and the supply of energy have raised prices upwards,” Gold-Williams said. “Again, I will quote that the natural gas I saw increases by 7,000 percent, increases by 10,000 percent. I stopped counting at 16,000 percent. ”

Part of your CPS bill is based on a “Fuel Adjustment Fee”, which covers the fuel costs associated with CPS generating energy, the purchase of renewable energy and purchases in the open energy market. So how much CPS you have to pay to bring you power will affect how much you pay in the end.

Typically, these fuel costs run the bill for 45 to 60 days, but CPS is trying to find a way to share the cost more.

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Although the final effect on your bill is not yet clear, CPS officials pointed out that it has not disconnected customers since March.

The utility will have to use “a good chunk” of its cash to meet the immediate requirements to pay for the fuel it had and also use part of its credit, Gold-Williams said. Finally, a bond may be needed to help distribute costs.

The plans will require discussions with the CPS council, city council and answers to community questions, the CPS CEO said, but estimated that they have about 60 to 120 days to resolve them or could affect the utility’s ability to buy fuel on market now.