Reuters capture
The harm of the American market economy is on the cutting board, revealing a blind spot even in the blackout following Corona 19.
As in Korea, instead of the entire National Health Insurance, the United States is a system in which you need to subscribe to an individual insurance company to receive treatment.
The US also entrusts the supply of public goods such as water and electricity to individual companies.
In Texas, where water supply was cut off due to a recent cold wave, there are 797 water suppliers and dozens of electricity suppliers.
This time, the profitability of the electricity supplier was a problem.
On the 22nd, Reuters highlighted the Texas case.
Texas has a’deregulated’ energy market that consumers can choose from among many competing electricity providers.
However, some electricity providers started selling electricity at high prices in response to an emergency situation, such as 20 people died in the cold wave that struck Texas and no electricity was supplied to more than 4 million residents.
As a result of selling expensive electricity, some Texas residents who could still turn on electricity or run refrigerators in the event of a power outage were required to receive bills worth $5,000 (5.55 million won) for just five days.
Reuters capture
Residents exposed to the skyrocketing electricity bill posted bills on social media and exploded their anger.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott said in a media interview that “Texans who have endured the cold for days without electricity should not suffer from soaring electricity bills.”
Governor Abbott said, “The Texas Public Works Commission will order electricity providers to stop sending bills to their customers, and will have a deferred action for temporary interruption of electricity for non-payment.”
Dallas Morning News, a daily newspaper published in Dallas, Texas, urged thousands of customers to change their suppliers ahead of a cold wave to avoid high electricity bills, but many say, “It’s been too long to It will take time,” he reported.
In an interview with CBS, mayor Sylvester Turner of the city of Houston in southeastern Texas said in an interview with CBS that “residents who have to pay ridiculously expensive electricity bills do not have to be held responsible.”
Senator Ted Cruz, Texas, also distanced himself from the free-market economy he had praised.
Cruise said on Twitter, “No power company should be profitable due to natural disasters.” I must do it,” he stressed.
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