Title: Texans Can Expect Bigger Utility Bills From The Winter Storm | KERA News
Headings: Texans Can Expect Bigger Utility Bills From The Winter Storm
Texans Can Expect Bigger Utility Bills From The Winter Storm
These spikes can be attributed to higher electricity usage during the cold, or dripping faucets and burst water pipes. For those already stretched thin by the pandemic, higher bills could be a big burden.
Why Big Bills Are Expected
Pricier Electricity
Variable Rates
Fixed rates
Disproportionate Impact
What Can You Do
Tags
Christopher Connelly

Content: Still, even fixed rate customers will pay more in the long run, Reed said, in the form of higher prices in the future, or increased fees or fuel charges. “There’ll be higher prices to pay for these scarcity prices,” Reed said. Disproportionate Impact
The hardship of increased electricity, water and natural gas bills are also likely to be felt disproportionately on lower-income Black and Latino households. Weatherization is, on the whole, worse in housing that is affordable to people with lower incomes. Drafts from older windows, doors that don’t seal tightly, and poorly insulated walls mean it takes more electricity to keep a home heated. Folks who rent their homes are, essentially, at the mercy of their landlord’s decisions about investing in energy efficiency. Folks who own their homes may not be able to afford to invest in better windows, additional insulation, and other home improvements, said Leah King, president and CEO of the United Way of Tarrant County. “That falls disproportionately high onto communities of color who, oftentimes, have experienced lack of access to capital and to second mortgages to weatherize their homes,” King said. The yawning racial wealth gap in the US is another factor into why high energy bills disproportionately impact households of color. Wealth is a measure of a family’s assets minus their debts.