SAN ANTONIO — CPS Energy announced Tuesday the organization has filed lawsuits against several natural gas suppliers over the winter storm price hikes.
During the winter storm, the organization said certain natural gas suppliers charged CPS Energy up to 15,000% more for natural gas supply. CPS Energy compared it to price gouging of residents during a natural disaster, something that individual Texans are protected from by state law.
“The lawsuits are designed to ensure that San Antonio residents get fair treatment instead of price gouging and gross overcharging by natural gas suppliers during last month’s weather emergency,” said San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg. “We will not tolerate suppliers hitting the jackpot by exploiting average customers.”
“We filed the suits to protect our customers from unlawful, excessive, and exorbitant prices charged by certain natural gas suppliers during a state and federally declared disaster,” said Paula Gold-Williams, President & CEO of CPS Energy. “Imagine going to the gasoline pump during a natural disaster and seeing the price of a gallon of gas at about $348 or about $7,000 for a full tank. That is essentially what happened with natural gas prices during the storm. On behalf of our customers, we cannot, and we will not stand for that. What is worse, certain suppliers have already discontinued gas supply, which is a hardball tactic in the extreme.”
This comes after CPS Energy filed suit against the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) in Bexar County District Court. That lawsuit was also to protect its customers from excessive and illegal price hikes, CPS Energy said.
The company says it plans to post all legal filings on its website when available.
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