In the US state of Texas, suppliers have sharply raised the price of electricity. Radio NPR reports.
The reason for the gouging of prices was the record frosts for this region. Until recently, the average electricity price in Texas was just over 12 cents per kilowatt-hour (about RUB 5.8), according to the US Energy Information Administration. However, last Friday the price jumped to 30 cents, and the price tag rose even more over the weekend.
With high demand and rising market prices, wholesale electricity prices on Monday exceeded $ 9,000 per megawatt hour. At the same time, on average, every month a consumer of utilities in the United States uses about 0.87 megawatt-hours.
Despite the high price tag, over 4.4 million residents in Texas are facing power outages. The authorities have launched an investigation to prevent further blackouts.
Blackouts have already resulted in casualties. Thus, four people, including three children, died in a fire while trying to keep warm in the house with the help of a fireplace.