How much money should the government spend to extend the life of an 80 year old sickly person?

Candy, Texas has some 200 electricy package offerings.  Some packages guarantee flat rate pricing, some offer pricing maximums, while some guarantee nothing.  The offereings that offer no price guarantees are, NOT shockingly, the cheapest.  Caveat emptor.

This is akin to people claiming that they bought auto insurance for a $1 annual premium, and next bitching that their $10,000 auto crash wasn't fully covered.  Liberals are once again, demanding that government protect the idiots at the expense of the sensible.

I do get that Boilerman.   But how does anybody's electricity bill jump like that before the month is even out, before the snow/ice has even melted?  The TV news had folks showing their $7000 bill before the storm was over.  I could imagine March's or April's bill would skyrocket, but that much!   Sheesh.

Candy 

You're preference is that the bill comes two weeks later?  If you were getting charged $1000 per day do you want to find our today or next month?

These people are doing the same as driving without insurance and then complaining when they crash their car and then the bill comes due.

That's a completely incorrect and monumentally stupid comparison. Texas power company customers who got charged thousands of dollars for a week's worth of power hadn't been doing anything irresponsible or neglectful. I suppose according to Boiler, these people should have shut off their circuit breakers and gathered up some furniture to burn because they should have known that keeping the heat on and the lights lit was going to cost them $10,000.

This is what happens to people when they don't vote for the "Liburruls" that Boiler hates so much. It's good old American capitalism at work: profit over people!

Doesn't really matter whether you get the bill immediately or next month. The real issue at hand is the size of that bill. The amounts the Texas power companies charged were obscene.

If Texas was a "LIBURRUL" state, charging customers that much would be a criminal act. But in oil company-town Texas, it's a noble act, a savvy business strategy, profit-maximizing pricing. The Texans freezing in the dark should have been applauding the value-added model applied by the power companies. I mean, what a triumph, when you figure out a way to make as much profit in two days as you did the entire prior year, right? Yee goddamn haw!!!!!

Conservatives think there's absolutely nothing wrong with what happened. I just feel sorry for all the Texas liberal voters who couldn't muster the power to stop this and other Republican shit from happening. They suffered and paid for the stupidity of the Texas fossil fuel cartel.

If there's a bright side to all this, it might be the final straw that turns Texas blue, and I don't mean the lips of Texas power company customers.

Auto insurance is regulated. States set a floor of minimum coverage.  This problem arose because Texas politicians chose to gamble on an unregulated system.  Now, these same Texas politicians like the Governor and Lt. Governor are demanding that the Federal taxpayers cover the cost for their high-risk electricity casino. 

Yep, that is right these macho conservative men are down on their knees begging for a big red state bailout. Why?  Because they know the voters of Texas will hold them responsible if they have to pay those 20k electric bills. 

Hopefully,  this will teach you a lesson on why you cant put conservatives in charge of anything.  Conservatives created a system where the profits running a public utility were maximized to benefit the private sector in what is supposed to be a sector that provides essential services to the public.   When the inevitable losses come the conservatives abandon the free market and socialize the losses.  Wouldn't it have been cheaper and easier to simply create a regulated system that sets a floor and a ceiling on what can be charged in the first place?

Under the Texas system, guys like Jerry Jones get a huge "jackpot" while ordinary taxpayers like Boiler cover the payout. I bet Boilerd didn't realize he was one of the designated chumps in the Texas conservative free-market electric paradise. 

Going forward, why wouldn't every Texas electric customer select the company with the cheapest rates? They get the benefit of the ultra-low rates when times are good and when times are bad they know the right-wing Texas government will be there to reward their risky behavior by making the Boilers of the world cover their losses.  

These people got greedy and that greed got them burned.  They had an option to pay slightly higher rates during normal times and then be protected from such price surges.  They instead chose the risky plan.

It is no different than opting out of car insurance, and then complaining about the $10,000 cost to repair a car after an accident.

You've made that idiotic comparison three times, and it's been wrong and stupid every time.

The people who got the $10,000 electric bills hadn't "opted out" of anything.

Okay, but they could have "opted in" to a program which would have eliminated this risk.  Is this not correct?

Well, since we already know that Kevin doesn't care to know the truth, here is the truth for the rest of you who care to learn the truth.

https://quickelectricity.com/choosing-electricity-plans/

Interesting.  Glad I don't have that to sweat about, figuring all that out.   I'd go nuts.   

Still sounds like The Sword of Damocles looming, ready to fall any time.

Candy