SAN ANTONIO — CPS Energy Trustees met Monday afternoon in a phone conference to talk about the effects of the winter storm and how to move forward.
During the pandemic, CPS Energy stopped disconnecting service for people who were behind in paying their bills.
In the meeting, Chief Financial Officer, Gary Gold, said the past due balances accrued during the pandemic have been growing at an average of $8 million a month since the summer of 2020.
Leaving the power company with a financial hit, Gold said there’s over $90 still owed from customers.
Gold also outlined the two percent decrease in electric sales over the last year.
Another trustee voiced concerns about how the energy company might make up those financial burdens, especially in the aftermath of the winter storm with concerns about ERCOT charges and fuel costs that skyrocketed amidst the deep freeze.
CPS Energy Paula Gold-Williams said the reliability crisis is followed by what she said was a “financial or affordability tsunami.”
Gold-Williams said the company is working to get prices down and costs lowered to a place that’s more manageable than what it is right now.
But, she said their number one goal is to protect their customers.
“We have the best estimates, we indicate that there’s about $200 million in ERCOT charges and up to around $800 million in fuel costs,” said Gold-Williams. “We are attacking that with every tool that we have from both a policy standpoint, a regulatory standpoint. We’re going to negotiate and use all other tools that we can to get that down.”
Gold-Williams said they “have all hands on deck” to address these financial issues, and won’t leave struggling customers to worry about how they’re going to pay their bills.
“Our goal is to protect our customers,” she said.
The CEO also said they have a working plan and will release it at a later date.