Texas Retail Provider Initially Tells Residential Customers It Is Passing On Higher Ancillary Service Costs To Customers On Fixed Rate Contracts

Texas retail electric provider MidAmerican Energy Services initially informed Texas residential electric customers on fixed rate contracts that, "non-energy costs such as ancillary charges billed by ERCOT and your local utility, are not fixed and are passed through on your bill."

Such disclosure to customers remains on a MidAmerican Energy Services webpage as of publication time

On the webpage, MidAmerican tells residential customers on fixed price contracts that, "While the cost for your energy component is fixed, non-energy charges (including ancillary costs) are billed by ERCOT and your local utility that distributes the power. Non-energy costs are not fixed and are passed through based on changes in utility and ERCOT pass through rates. These costs are used to manage the grid and your local area network. You will see a new line item on your bill, Supplemental Ancillary Charges, for the increase in ancillary rates."

In a subsequent communication to customers, MidAmerican Energy Services said that it would await PUC action on a potential re-pricing of ancillary services (AS) and that it will not pass through any ancillary adjustments until a ruling is made by the Commission. As reported by EnergyChoiceMatters.com last week, the Texas PUC is still considering whether a re-pricing of AS is appropriate.

On the same webpage, MidAmerican Energy Services told commercial customers on fixed price contracts that, "Non-energy costs include ancillary costs that are billed by ERCOT and your local utility that distributes the power."

"Ancillary costs are determined by ERCOT and your local utility for maintaining the integrity of the electric grid and as such performed rolling outages during the storm event. Ancillary costs are market-driven and can increase significantly during extreme weather events," MidAmerican Energy Services states on the webpage

"Non-energy costs such as ancillaries are not fixed and are passed through based on changes in the ERCOT tariff [sic] rates or market prices. You will see a new line item on your bill, Supplemental Ancillary Charges, for the increase in ancillary rates," MidAmerican Energy Services states on the webpage, regarding commercial customers