MonMonday 22 FebFebruary 2021

2021年2月22日,星期一

Elected officials in Texas say the state should help pay some of the eye-watering electricity bills sent to residents after a devastating and deadly winter storm that caused widespread blackouts.

德克萨斯州的民选官员说,该州应该帮助居民支付一部分令人难以忍受的电费,当地居民在经历了一场毁灭性和致命的冬季风暴造成的大面积停电后,收到了这些账单。

Texas has a highly unusual deregulated energy market that allows consumers to choose between scores of competing electricity providers.

德克萨斯州的能源市场不受监管的程度极不寻常,消费者可以在几十家竞争激烈的电力供应商之间进行选择。

Some providers sell electricity at wholesale prices that rise in sync with demand. Those prices skyrocketed as a record-breaking freeze gripped a state unaccustomed to extreme cold, killing at least two dozen people and knocking out power to more than 4 million people at its peak. Some 30,000 people were still without power on Sunday, Texas Governor Greg Abbott said.

一些供应商以批发价出售电力,而批发电价会与电力需求同步上涨。由于该州遭遇了前所未有的严寒天气,导致至少24人死亡,高峰时期400多万人断电,所以电力价格出现飙升。德克萨斯州州长格雷格·阿博特说,周日仍有大约3万人断电。

As a result, some Texans who were still able to turn on lights or keep their fridge running found themselves with bills of $US5,000 for just a five-day period, according to photos of invoices posted on social media by angry consumers.

结果,愤怒的消费者把发票照片发到社交媒体上,一些还能开灯或让冰箱保持运转的德州人发现,他们在短短五天内就收到了5000美元的电费账单。

The Dallas Morning News said one provider offering a wholesale tariff plan had urged its thousands of customers to switch suppliers ahead of the storm to avoid high prices, but many found it would take too long to change their provider.

《达拉斯晨报》称,一家提供批发电价套餐的供应商敦促其数千名客户在风暴来临前更换供应商,以避免价格过高,但许多人发现,更换供应商需要的时间太长。

"The bill should go to the state of Texas," Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said in an interview with CBS News on Sunday.

“这些账单应该发给德克萨斯州,”休斯顿市长西尔威斯特·特纳周日接受CBS新闻采访时说。

"When they're getting these exorbitant electricity bills and they're having to pay for their homes, repair their homes, they should not have to bear the responsibility."

“当那些人收到这些高昂的电费账单时,他们还必须为自家的房子买单,修理房子,他们不应该承担这些责任。”

Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price told CBS both the state and the federal government should be expected to help with the bills.

沃斯堡市长贝琪·普莱斯对CBS表示,预计沃斯堡和联邦政府都将帮助解决这些账单。

US senator Ted Cruz, who was forced to cut short a family holiday to Mexico after public outrage, also distanced himself from the free-market system he had previously praised.

美国参议员特德.克鲁兹也与他此前曾称赞过的自由市场体系划清了界限。在公众的愤怒情绪之后,克鲁兹被迫缩短了全家赴墨西哥度假的时间。

"This is WRONG," Mr Cruz wrote on Twitter. "No power company should get a windfall because of a natural disaster, and Texans shouldn't get hammered by ridiculous rate increases for last week's energy debacle. State and local regulators should act swiftly to prevent this injustice."

“这是错误的,”克鲁兹在Twitter上写道。“任何一家电力公司都不应该借着自然灾害大发横财,德克萨斯人也不应该因为上周的能源崩溃而受到荒唐的电费上调的打击。州和地方监管机构应该迅速采取行动,防止这种不公正的做法。”

Mr Abbott called an emergency meeting to discuss the problem, saying in a statement that the state had a responsibility to ensure Texans "do not get stuck with skyrocketing energy bills".

阿博特召开紧急会议讨论这一问题,并在一份声明中表示,德州有责任确保德州人“不会被飞涨的能源账单所困”。

On Sunday, the governor told reporters that the Texas Public Utilities Commission would order electricity companies to pause sending customers electricity bills.

周日,这位州长告诉记者,德州公用事业委员会将下令电力公司暂停向客户发送电费账单。

The commission was also issuing a temporary moratorium on disconnection for non-payment, Mr Abbott said.

阿博特表示,该委员会还对未付款的用户发布了暂时暂停断网的通知。

Separately, Texas Attorney-General Ken Paxton issued civil investigative demands to power companies regarding the outages, their emergency plans and pricing, saying they had "grossly mishandled" the weather emergency.

另外,德克萨斯州总检察长肯?帕克斯顿就停电、应急计划和定价问题,向电力公司发出了民事调查要求,称它们对紧急天气情况“严重处理不当”。

US President Joe Biden approved a major disaster declaration for Texas on Saturday, making federal funding available to people harmed by the storm.

周六,美国总统乔·拜登批准了德克萨斯州重大灾难声明,向受灾民众拨付联邦资金。

All power plants were back online at the weekend and power had been restored to most homes as the weather returned to normal, but concerns still remained about water supplies, with millions of Texans being advised to boil water before using.

随着天气恢复正常,所有发电厂周末恢复供电,大多数家庭也恢复了电力供应,但人们仍然担心供水问题,建议数百万德克萨斯州人在使用前将水烧开。
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Houston officials said the city's water was safe to use without boiling as of Sunday.

休斯顿官员说,截至周日,该市的水可以在不烧开的情况下安全使用。